Electricity.

Its essential for development, economic growth, job

creation, and modern life. Without it, poverty endures.
The Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan are two countries in Central Asia endowed with some of the worlds most
abundant clean hydropower resources with water cascading from the mountain ranges and filling the rivers every
summer. Both of these countries have a surplus of electricity during the summer. Nearby in South Asia, Afghanistan
and Pakistan suffer from chronic electricity shortages while trying to keep pace with a fast-growing demand for it.
Pakistan cannot meet its citizens electricity needs, especially during the sweltering summer months, leading to
frequent power cuts that hurt industrial production, sometimes close small businesses, and lead to job losses.
Meanwhile millions of people still live without electricity altogether.
A new electricity transmission system to connect all four countries, called CASA-1000, would help make the most
efficient use of clean hydropower resources in the Central Asian countries by enabling them to transfer and sell their
electricity surplus during the summer months to the deficient countries in South Asia. The CASA-1000 project would
also complement the countries efforts to improve electricity access, integrate and expand markets to increase trade,
and find sustainable solutions to water resources management.

Whats New

June 14-20, 2016, Washington DC, USA:Meetings of CASA-1000 Procurement Committee (PC), Legal
Subcommittee (LSC) and Join Working Group (JWG) took place on June 14-20 in Washington, DC as follow up to
April 21, 2016 Intergovernmental Council (IGC) Resolution approving the reconfiguration of the project from three
HVDC terminal to two terminals design. Procurement Committee met on June 14, 2016 in Washington, DC to
update information on the procurement process for different project tender packages and modifications of the
tender documents to reflect the changes in the project configuration.
The Legal Subcommittee met to identify changes in some areas of the Core project agreements to reflect project
reconfiguration and planed the next project implementation steps. The areas of changes were agreed and
Secretariat Legal Counsel will develop the text of needed amendments. Several issues were referred to InterGovernmental Council (IGC) for decisions, including allocation of additional project related expenses for
interconnection and utilization of existing 220 kV line between Tajikistan and Afghanistan as well as changing of
the reference period for indexation due to the project implementation delays.
May 11-12, 2016, Dushanbe, Tajikistan: Secretariat and Energy Links attended the CASA-1000 Round Table on May
11, 2016 in Dushanbe and the Ceremony of Opening of the CASA-1000 Project Implementation Phase on May 12,
2016 in the town of Tursunzade near Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Ceremony of Opening of the CASA-1000 Project
Implementation Phase featured high level representatives from all four countries - Tajik President, Afghan Chief
Executive, Pakistani Prime Minister and Kyrgyz Prime Minister attended the opening ceremony. All the donors,
partners and Secretariat were represented by highest officials as well. All the parties confirmed their commitment
to the Project and expressed their confidence in success.
April 21, 2016, Almaty, Kazakhstan: The Intergovernmental Council (IGC) meeting, which was preceded by a Joint
Working Group (JWG) meeting, was successfully held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, from April 19 - 21, 2016.
IGC approved the restructuring of the project by reconfiguring the three terminal design to a two terminal design
and moving convertor station in Pakistan from Peshawar to Nowshera as the more secure place due to the
difficulties in obtaining acceptable proposals for a three HVDC terminal configuration.
High-level officials of the CASA-1000 Project countries-participants - Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, and
Tajikistan - representatives of the World Bank, Islamic Development Bank, UK Department for International
Development, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, US State Department, USAID, International
Finance Corporation, IGC and CASA-1000 Secretariat attended the meeting.
The Republic of Tajikistan was confirmed as the host of the official ceremony launching the Projects
implementation phase on May 12, 2016 in Dushanbe with participation of high-ranking officials of all four
countries, representatives of the International Financial Institutions, CASA-1000 Secretariat, donors and partners.
March 17, 2016, Almaty, Kazakhstan: The Procurement Committee and Joint Working Group met on March 16-17,
2016 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The representatives of the World Bank, EBRD, IFC, Power Grid of India, USAID and the
JV TBEA/CSGI also attended the meeting.
The Procurement Committee and JWG conducted first round of negotiation with JV TBEA/CSGI on their financial
proposal. Countries agreed the tentative dates for next JWG/IGC meeting as April 13-15, 2016 in Istanbul.
February 18, 2016, Almaty, Kazakhstan: The Procurement Committee and Joint Working Group met on February
18, 2016 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The representatives of the World Bank, IsDB, IFC, Power Grid of India, USAID and
the Owners Engineer bidders Monenco and Fichtner also attended the meeting.
The Procurement Committee and IFC conducted second round of negotiation with Fichtner GmbH and Monenco.
Parties agreed to exchange Government Guarantees during the next IGC meeting on April 2016.