Islamabad - Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will join the leaders of Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in the launching ceremony of the long-awaited CASA-1000 Megawatt (MW) electricity import project near Dushanbe in Tajikistan on May 12.

“We have received confirmation from the Foreign Office that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will also attend launching ceremony of Casa-1000 MW power import project to take place in a city near Dushanbe,” Tajikistan Ambassador Sherali S Jononov told a press conference here on Wednesday.

He added that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev would also attend the ceremony. Tajikistan ambassador also announced direct flights between Pakistan and Tajikistan.

“It is a big achievement to enhance trade and people-to-people contacts between the two regions,” he said, and added, “CASA as well as direct flights would also result in enhancing trade between two countries.”

Representative of Somon Air of Tajikistan Nadeem Z. Cheema, who was also present on the occasion, said that first flight from Lahore to Dushanbe would start on May 6.

“There would be two flights in a week. In the second phase, we will start flights from Islamabad and Karachi, keeping in view the response received from the passengers,” Cheema explained.

He said that each flight would have a 4-5 tonnes cargo facility. “It means traders would be able to export 20 tonnes of cargo every month,” he said, adding, “Direct flights are the best chance for Pakistani businessmen to access Tajik markets.”

CASA-1000 project will help Pakistan receive 1000 megawatts of electricity from Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan during summer months (from May 1 to Sept 30).

Price of the electricity will be Rs9.35 cents/Kwh, including estimated transmission energy, Afghan Transit and Tajik Wheeling Charges.

CASA-1000 project is scheduled for completion by 2018, under the umbrella of the World Bank.

Tajikistan’s share in the energy export will be 70 percent, while Kyrgyzstan will export 30 percent of power.

Afghanistan will consume 300 MW of the energy, while Pakistan will receive 1000 MW of electricity.

Regarding CASA, Sherali said the project would be completed in two years at a total cost of $1.2 billion.

He said that Pakistan would get clean hydel energy at cheaper rates, which would help minimize the energy crisis in the country. He said that Tajikistan, with more than 1000 rivers and lakes, was rich in hydel resources. The envoy further said that all legal, technical and financial formalities had been completed before the launch of the project.

Responding to question on security in Afghanistan, he said that Afghanistan was a sovereign country and had given sovereign guarantee to protect the transmission line passing through it soil.

“We have two transmission lines from Tajikistan to Afghanistan for the last seventeen years, and there have been no security issues,” he assured.

Among other sectors of the economy, he said the energy sector of Tajikistan had been showing sustainable growth for the last 15 years.

“In addition to big plants, there are also 20 medium and 40 small hydro stations in the remote mountainous areas, with a capacity ranging from 5 kilowatt (kwt) to 1,500 kwt,” the envoy added.

He said the project would also introduce Afghanistan as a viable transit country, and would offer transmission capacity for other countries during the off-peak seasons.

The Tajik ambassador further said that Tajikistan had offered investment opportunities to the investors of Pakistan, which could be materialised by increasing air contacts.