DUSHANBE, May 12, 2016, Asia-Plus – Afghan Minister of Energy and Water Ali Ahmad Osmani has said that his country will not receive electricity through the Central Asia South Asia Electricity Transmission and Trade (CASA 1000) Project, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reports.

Afghanistan stated this at a roundtable on CASA 1000 Project that took place in Dushanbe yesterday.

Ali Ahmad Osmani reportedly noted that his country has decided not to receive electricity via that power transmission line but to construct its own hydroelectric power plant.  According to him, Kabul has worked out the energy independence strategy.

It is necessary to build a 300 MW DC-AC Converter Station so that Afghanistan could receive 300 MW of electricity during the summer season, but this is an expensive equipment, and therefore, Afghanistan has decided to refuse to receive electricity through this project, Afghan minister noted.

“If there is technical opportunity, we will purchase those 300 MW of electricity from Tajikistan via existing power transmission lines.  If not, we will purchase electricity from Turkmenistan via the 500 kV power transmission line under construction,” Ali Ahmad Osmani said.