DUSHANBE, July 6, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Despite of halting of freight cars bound for Tajikistan on Uzbek territory, the 220 kV Tajikistan-Afghanistan power transmission line is expected to be finished ahead of schedule, according to the Ministry of Energy and Industries (MoEI).

The source at a MoEI said the Tajik side was expected to complete its part of the Tajikistan-Afghanistan 220 kV interconnection project in May this year but because of the rail problems (freight cars loaded with building materials for the power grid were holding up in Uzbekistan) the completion of the construction of the power transmission line on Tajik territory was being delayed.  “One of two freight cars carrying building materials for the power grid was allowed to move into Tajikistan just recently and the other one is expected to arrive in Tajikistan within the next few days,” he said.  However, we expect the power grid to be finished ahead of schedule, he added.

We will recall that the Tajikistan-Afghanistan 220 kV interconnection project was supposed to be fully completed in November this year.

A total cost of the project is 56.5 million U.S. dollars and it is financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund, and the governments of Tajikistan and Afghanistan, the source said.

On the territory of Tajikistan, the line starts in the Sanguda-1 hydroelectric plant and ends on the Tajik-Afghan border.  The 220 kV Tajikistan-Afghanistan power transition line is 274 kilometers long, and 118 kilometers of it lies on Tajik territory and 156 kilometers on Afghan territory.