In a report released at a news conference in Dushanbe, Barqi Tojik (Tajikistan’s national power utility company) CEO Mahmadumar Asozoda revealed on January 31 that Afghanistan now owes 33 million U.S. dollars to Tajikistan for electrical power deliveries.

According to him, Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS – Afghanistan’s national power utility company) has promised to repay its electricity debts to Tajikistan already this month.  

“In January, DABS paid US$2 million and promised to pay the same amount during this week,” Asozoda said, noting that the main problem in repaying the debt is the fact that banks in Afghanistan now can provide DABS with only US$2 million a week to pay for Tajik electricity. 

According to data from Barqi Tojik, Tajikistan last year exported a total of US$56.3 million worth of electricity to Afghanistan. 

At the beginning of the last year, the power companies of Tajikistan and Afghanistan signed an agreement on the supply of about 1.5 billion kWh of electricity from Tajikistan to Afghanistan in 2021.  

Tajikistan reportedly supplies electricity to Afghanistan at the rate of 3.0 cents per 1 kWh through the 110 kV power transmission line and at the rate of 4.5 cents per 1 kWh through the 220 kV power transmission line.

On December 26, 2021, the national power utility companies of Tajikistan and Afghanistan reportedly signed an agreement on the supply of electricity from Tajikistan to Afghanistan in 2022. 

According to information posted on the official website of Barqi Tojik (Tajikistan’s national power utility company) the document was inked by the then-Director General of Barqi Tojik Mirzo Ismoilzoda and DABS CEO Hafiz Mohammad Amin in the Uzbek capital city of Tashkent.  

Under this agreement, Tajikistan will deliver daily up to 400 megawatt (MW) of electricity to Afghanistan from May to September this year.  

Barqi Tojik emphasizes that the agreement is only of economic nature.

Meanwhile, DABS’s website says the agreement was signed as a result of two days of negotiations between the two parties.  The parties reportedly also discussed issues related to regional connectivity and development projects such as CASA 1000 and construction of 500 kV power transmission line.

DABS says that at the end of the visit, the Afghan delegation emphasized the importance of cooperation with Tajikistan and assured that the security and defense forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) are ready to provide security for the suspended projects.

Tajikistan has sufficient summer-time (defined as May 1 to September 30) hydropower surpluses to export to the neighboring countries.