The World Bank (WB) has approved additional financing of $18.3 million for Kyrgyzstan as part of the ongoing Central Asia-South Asia project involving electricity trade, the WB Country Manager for the Kyrgyz Republic Naveed Hassan Naqvi said, Report informs via Kyrgyz media.
Funds are being allocated to the Regional Interconnection Initiative to facilitate the export of 1,300 megawatts of excess hydropower from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The project is aimed at improving and increasing the sustainability of access of the population and business structures to energy resources and, as a result, increasing the rate of social development and economic growth; contributing to global efforts to combat climate change through the use of renewable hydropower resources.
The project provides for the construction of alternating current (500 kilovolt) power lines with a length of about 456 kilometers. To date, 1,243 supports have already been installed, and work on hanging wires on 287 kilometers of power lines has been completed.
The total investment package is $216 million. Of these, $85 million was provided by the European Investment Bank, $63 million by the Islamic Development Bank, and $68 million by the World Bank and the Multilateral Donor Trust Fund.