KABUL: The Asian Development Bank has pledged to donate $150 million USD for the power transmission line from Turkmenistan to Pakistan through Afghanistan.
Officials from the bank said they will provide technical assistance as well as financial assistance to the three countries.
“Next year, the ADB hopes to provide support for TAP which is an energy transmission line and connects Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan … Currently, ADB is the largest on budget development partner to Afghanistan. We work in collaboration with other development partners,” Linda Arthur, head of portfolio unit at the Asian Development Bank, said.
The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan power line transmission project will transfer at least 2,000 megawatts of power in the first phase.
According to the De Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat, the country’s electricity provider, Afghanistan will receive at least $200 million USD in transmission rights every year.
The agreement for the project will be signed between relevant ministries of the three countries at the upcoming RECCA conference in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, the head of the Breshna, Sherkat Amanullah Ghalib, said.
“Our plan is to create a ring (of power transmission lines) in Afghanistan in order to increase the safety of the energy. The TAP project is managed by the Asian Development Bank. And meanwhile, this project has the support of NATO, the Asian Development Bank and the European Union,” Ghalib said at a conference on Tuesday.
The transmission line will pass through western and southern provinces of Afghanistan.
