Mohammad Omar Asuzada, head of Tajikistan’s national power utility company, said in a press conference that Afghanistan still stands a considerable debt to Tajikistan. The Tajik energy official, without disclosing the amount of the debt, said the Afghanistan electricity company will gradually pay its debts.
In a press conference held on Tuesday, July 12, the head of Barqi Tojik, Tajikistan’s national power company, stated that Tajikistan exports 9 million kilowatts of power per hour to Afghanistan and that Afghanistan has not yet paid off its debt for electricity to Tajikistan.
Earlier, in January 2022, the Tajikistan Electricity Company claimed that Afghanistan owed Tajikistan $33 million for imported electricity, and the Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), the Afghan state electricity company now managed by the Taliban, requested to settle its debts by a month later, until February 2022.
According to figures from Barqi Tojik, Tajikistan exported power to Afghanistan last year for a total of US$56.3 million.
A deal between the electrical companies of Tajikistan and Afghanistan was signed at the start of 2021 under which Tajikistan agreed to export 1.5 billion kilowatts of electricity to Afghanistan.
Each year, Afghanistan requires roughly 1,600 megawatts of electricity. In Afghanistan, hydropower plants, solar panels, and fossil fuels, according to Afghan energy officials, provide around 22% of the country’s energy requirements.—Khaama Press New Agency
