The project is designed to transmit 1,300 megawatts of surplus electricity from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan through a 500-kilovolt high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line. Under the plan, 300 megawatts will be allocated to Afghanistan and 1,000 megawatts to Pakistan.
The 789-kilometer transmission line begins in Sangtuda, Tajikistan, and extends to Nowshera in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The 113-kilometer section in Pakistan, from Nowshera to Torkham, has been completed at a cost of approximately 87 billion Pakistani rupees.
It has also been reported that around 75 percent of the Afghanistan section of the project has been completed and is expected to enter operation next summer. The sections in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have also reportedly been declared ready for operation.
The total cost of the CASA-1000 project is estimated at approximately $1.2 billion, financed by the World Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, and European banks. The project, which has been under development for more than a decade, has continued despite major geopolitical developments and changes in the region and is now approaching its final stages.