KABUL, Nov 16: Central Asian states Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan will export electricity through Afghanistan to Pakistan through a cable network due to be completed by 2012, according to an agreement signed by the four states on Friday.

The Central Asian states use all their electricity in the winter, but are left with a power surplus in the summer months, while Afghan cities are without power for much of the day all year round and growth in Pakistan has been held back by a power shortage.

“This is a very big and important power project for Afghanistan,” said Afghan Energy and Water Minister Ismail Khan at the signing ceremony.

Mr Khan said 1,300MW of electricity would be exported through the new cables at first, with Afghanistan allowed to use 300MW of that power, then once capacity had risen to 4,500MW of power, Afghanistan would be able to use 1,000 MW.

The completion of hydro-electric power projects in the Central Asian states is expected to boost their power generation.

A World Bank report this month said Afghanistan was well placed to serve as a transit hub for energy supplies from Central Asia to the power-hungry Indian subcontinent.

Ongoing insecurity as a result of the Taliban insurgency has hampered efforts to build a proposed project to bring gas from Turkmenistan to

Pakistan, but the electricity project passes through the more peaceful north of Afghanistan.—Reuters