U.S. Pushing Asian Power Grid

Washington is pushing construction of a regional pipeline and utility grid linking Central Asia and India. The project envisions a system from Almaty, Kazakhstan, south to Afghanistan, then Pakistan and on to New Delhi, the Gulf Daily News said Friday.

Richard Boucher, the assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs, told a congressional hearing Thursday that the network would be fed by oil and gas from Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan and hydropower from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. The electrical portion of the venture entails the establishment of a 500-kilovolt power line.

Boucher said that in partnership with multilateral development banks and other donors, the US wanted to help build new links among the countries of the broader region and connect them more closely to the rest of the world.

One of our leading objectives is to fund a greatly expanded Afghan power grid, with connections to energy sources in Central Asia. It's a winning solution for both sides, providing much-needed energy to Afghanistan and serving as a major source of future revenue for countries like Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, he said.

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