Core project agreements of the long-awaited Central Asia South Asia 1000 (CASA 1000) will be signed on April 23-24, 2015 in Turkey, official sources told Business Recorder. Minister for Water and Power, Khawaja Asif, Additional Secretary Incharge Ministry of Water and Power, Younus Dagha and Managing Director National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) will represent Pakistan. Other participating countries will also be represented by their Energy Ministers and higher officials.
The core project agreements consist of Four Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) between respective countries; a Master Agreement between all four parties; an Account Bank Agreement; Technical Code; Co-ordination Agreement between Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan and Host Government Agreements.
The tariff components of CASA 1000 project consist of: (i) transmission tariff payback of investment costs to Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Afghanistan, AC & DC O&M cost, community support fund and common fund; (ii) cost of energy payable to the sellers; and (iii) transit fee to be paid to Afghanistan.
The estimated transmission tariff is 2.98 cents/kWh; the energy tariff is 5.15 cents/kWh and the Afghan transit fee is @ 1.25 cents/kWh. According to sources, all outstanding issues were resolved in the JWG/IGC meeting in Istanbul early December 2014 followed by the LSC/JWG meeting in Bishkek in February 2015.
The CASA 1000 transmission project envisages the transportation of surplus electric power available in summer months (May 1 to September 30) from Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan. The project will comprise the development, financing, construction, ownership and operation of the following AC and DC facilities: (i) a 750km high voltage direct current transmission system between Tajikistan and Pakistan via Afghanistan together with associated converter stations at Sangtuda (1,300MW), Kabul (300MW) and Peshawar (1,300MW). Pakistan has decided to increase capacity of convertor aimed at getting electricity over and above 1000 MW in case Kabul does not use its entire share of 300 MW; (ii) 477km 500kv alternating current link between the Kyrgyz Republic (Datka) and Tajikistan (Khoujand); and (iii) AC system upgrades necessary to safely and reliably accommodate the AC and DC Facilities and the associated power flows.
The CASA 1000 Transmission line (T/L) to Peshawar would be capable of delivering 1300 MW (1,000 MW is Pakistan's share & 300 MW is Afghanistan's share however, the Afghan share may be available for Pakistan as Afghanistan may not need the power in near future). The exporting countries (Kyrgyz Republic & Tajikistan) have conveyed that they will be able to deliver 4,000 GWh of energy in a normal year and 4,434 GWh in a wet year.
The estimated cost of the CASA-1000 project is $1.170 billion including $208 million IDC & taxes-but the final cost will be determined through a competitive bidding process. This includes the estimated cost of $200 million required for the Pakistan portion of the DC transmission line and convertor station.
The CASA-1000 project will be implemented as a contractual joint venture in which all four participating countries will own the parts of the project located in their respective countries.
The World Bank in its Board of Directors meeting on 27 March, 2014 has approved $120m in IDA credit for Pakistan while 1DB has indicated $35 million. EAD has been requested to arrange the rest of the amount US$142 million. The source said, tender documents for the owners, engineer, EPC contracts of convertor stations and Afghan DC O&M are due to be awarded by May 2015. The construction start is expected in September 2015 and project completion is expected by May 2018. Slippage in timelines could occur if the DC convertor stations and Afghan transmission line's EPC contracts are not awarded in the next 2-3 months, the sources added.
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