DUSHANBE: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday attended the inauguration ceremony of the Central Asia South Asia (CASA-1000) transmission line near Dushanbe in Tajikistan on Thursday, Radio Pakistan reported.

The $1.2 billion, 750-kilometre-long transmission line which is expected to be complete by 2018 will allow Pakistan to import electricity from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan via Afghanistan to minimise the country’s electricity shortage.

The initial plan is to transmit about 1,300MW electricity from Republic and Tajikistan to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Pakistan will consume about 1,000MW of the exported energy while 300MW will be used by Afghanistan. Around 16 per cent of the transmission line of will pass through Tajikistan, 75pc through Afghanistan and 9pc through Pakistan.

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and Kyrgyz Prime Minister Sooronbay Jeenbekov jointly launched the project alongside PM Nawaz.

Nawaz Sharif at delegation-level meeting during his two-day trip to Tajikistan agreed to strengthen bilateral relations, particularly in areas of trade, energy and connectivity with his hosts.

Know more: Pakistan, Tajikistan agree to boost energy cooperation

Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan ─ the world’s third largest producer of hydroelectric power ─ have been pursuing the development of electricity-trading arrangements and the establishment of the Casa Regional Energy Market (CASAREM) since 2005, starting with the supply of 1,300MW which may go up to 2,800MW in subsequent years.

The Afghan government has given a sovereign guarantee to protect the section of the transmission line passing through it.

The Casa-1000 project will comprise the development, financing, construction, ownership and operation of the AC and DC facilities.

The transmission line originates from Kyrgyzstan with substation at Datka to Tajikistan's four substations including Sughda, Dushanbe, Regar and Sangtuda and then passing through Afghanistan to Pakistan with a converter station at Nowshera.

This will include a 750km high voltage direct current (DC) transmission system between Tajikistan and Pakistan via Afghanistan, together with associated converter stations at Sangtuda (1,300MW), Kabul (300MW) and Peshawar (1,300MW).

A 477km 500kV alternating current facility will also run between the Kyrgyz Republic (Datka) and Tajikistan (Khoujand). System upgrades will be required to safely and reliably accommodate the AC and DC facilities and the associated power flows.