“Through the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) program, ADB actively promotes regional power trade among Central Asian countries and beyond,” said Yevgeniy Zhukov, ADB's Director General for Central and West Asia. “Our support strengthens the sustainability of the regional power system and helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the region.”

The new financing will support the construction of a 22-kilometer, 500-kilovolt transmission line in northern Tajikistan, linking the Sughd substation with Uzbekistan’s New Syrdarya substation. This expansion will increase transmission capacity for power exports and imports among CAPS member countries, which include Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. It will also reinforce infrastructure to prevent grid failures that cause blackouts.

The project will ensure that Tajikistan's power system is prepared to provide regulating capacity, facilitating the integration of renewable energy into the region. In the long term, this project will play a key role in the power evacuation scheme for the Rogun hydropower plant in Tajikistan.