DUSHANBE, May 16, 2016, Asia-Plus – The World Bank notes that security is a key issue for the Central Asia South Asia Electricity Transmission and Trade (Casa-1000) Project, both during construction and operation.

Security issues relate primarily to landmines, sabotage and theft of equipment.  All country governments have agreed to provide adequate security to contractor’s personnel and goods.

Each country has reportedly prepared a Security Management Plan for both the construction and operation phases of the line in their respective areas of ownership.

Provision has been kept for payment for any work related to landmines or any additional specific security arrangement to be made by contractors, according to the World Bank.

The community support programs being developed for local communities living near the line for the whole CASA-1000 Project corridor will serve as an incentive for communities to preserve its safe operation.

The World Bank says that in case of any damage to the line, measures are designed to limit outages.

The construction of the project will take about three years from the date of the contracting of the HVDC Converter Station package (expected in Q2 of calendar year 2017).  Other activities will be implemented in parallel.

The World Bank is one of seven financiers of the project through the International Development Association (IDA).

We will recall that the launch ceremony of the CASA-1000 project took place in the Tajik city of Tursunzoda, some 60 kilometers to the west of Dushanbe, on May 12.  On May 11, a roundtable on “CASA-1000 and Prospects for the Development of Regional Energy Cooperation” was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan in Dushanbe.