BISHKEK, FEB. 1 2017 (The Conway Bulletin) — A delay in handing out a contract to build two converter stations has pushed back the start date of the CASA-1000 project which aims to send electricity generated by hydropower stations in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Pakistan’s Express-Tribune newspaper quoted an unnamed Pakistani official as saying that French engineering company Alstom had asked for more time to put in a bid to build two converter stations.
“Four countries that are part of the project – Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Pakistan – have agreed to give relaxation in the timeframe keeping in view the request of Alstom, which is a credible name and a major supplier of converter stations across the world,” the newspaper quoted the official as saying.
“Now, this project is likely to be ready in 2020.”
CASA-1000 had been due to start up either at the end of this year or in 2018. It is backed by the World Bank and is considered a vital economic and strategic link between Central Asia and South Asia, binding the two regions together, providing an export product for Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and electricity for Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The two converter stations are vital to the CASA-1000 project. One will be sited in Tajikistan and the other in Pakistan.
The value of the tender has not been released but the names of the companies bidding for it have been. They are the US’ GE, Japan’s Mitsubishi, Germany’s Siemens and Alstom.
For the West the CASA-1000 project also has major significance as the physical implementation of the north-south Silk Road trade route that Hillary Clinton touted in 2011 when she was US Secretary of State.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 315, published on Feb. 3 2017)
