To ensure access to electricity for vulnerable communities in Tajikistan’s remotest regions along the western foothills of the Himalayas, the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved the financing of $31.7 million for the Tajikistan Rural Electrification Project (TREP).
“As one of four countries globally, that benefits from additional IDA resources earmarked to strengthen the economy’s resilience to fragility risks, this project supports the provision of most critical local infrastructure to villages in most difficult conditions at several thousand meters above sea level,” said Jan-Peter Olters, World Bank Country Manager for Tajikistan. “By connecting to local and central grids all current villages in the country’s two provinces along the border with Afghanistan, health outcomes, living conditions, and economic opportunities of the households living in the harshest conditions will improve tangibly and sustainably.”
The Tajikistan Rural Electrification Project will finance the construction of electricity generation and distribution infrastructure to provide off-grid solutions or connect to the central grid vulnerable communities in Tajikistan’s eastern Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO) and southern Khatlon region. In Khatlon, over 31,000 people living in 74 settlements in the poorest areas along the border with Afghanistan will be connected to the electricity grid, while over 11,500 residents residing in 61 largely scattered and remote settlements in GBAO will be connected to locally generated electricity.
The electrification of these communities is a priority for the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan, reflecting significant social and economic costs that are associated with, inter alia, the lack of access to clean, safe, and affordable energy sources. For example, constant exposure to smoke from burning firewood, fuels, and biomass as well as the inability to boil water has had serious health implications. Access to electricity will improve the living conditions of people, expand opportunities for economic activity, and improve health and access to basic social services.
The World Bank’s active portfolio in Tajikistan includes 17 projects, with net commitments of $683 million.
Original source: World Bank
Published on 11 July 2019
