The volume of electricity exchange between Iran and Pakistan has reached 200 megawatts with the launch of a new transmission line, Energy Minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian made the statement at a meeting with Pakistan’s Power Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan on Sunday.
Referring to the design and implementation of the Iran-Pakistan electricity transmission line in less than a year, Mehrabian said, “The necessary tests have been done and the line is now operational,” the Iranian Energy Ministry’s news portal Paven reported.
Regarding bilateral economic relations, the minister said good cooperation has been established between the two countries and the volume of economic exchanges between Iran and Pakistan has reached $2 billion per year.
Also speaking at the meeting, Dastgir Khan underlined expressed hope that the two neighboring nations will see expansion of electricity exchanges after reaching a final agreement, following the formation of technical and commercial teams.
“Relations between the two countries go beyond regional and international events and both countries have strong cultural, historical and geographical commonalities,” he stated.
The 100 MW transmission line from Pollan in southeast Iran and 51 km from Pakistan’s border to Gwadar was launched recently.
The National Transmission and Dispatch Company of Pakistan has completed the construction and testing of the 29-km-long power transmission line at a cost of $10 million.
Through the line, electricity is supplied to both the domestic and the industrial sectors of Gwadar, the coastal district in Makran division.
Initially, to meet the demand of the border areas of Pakistan’s Balochistan Province, an agreement was signed between the two neighboring countries in 2002 for the import of 34 MW of electricity. The figures gradually increased to 73 MW and finally reached 100 MW. With the launch of the new project, total electricity import from Iran has reached 200 MW.
The import of additional power from Iran will be beneficial for the people of Gwadar and Makran regions. It will help reduce load-shedding and with the sustainable power supply in the region, key business players and investors will be able to develop their businesses.
In recent months, Iran and Pakistan have taken several steps to strengthen energy cooperation. Boosting energy ties was the main topic of talks between Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi during a meeting held on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s Summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, last September.
According to Pakistani news outlets, from chronic load shedding to electricity theft, heavy transmission and distribution losses to non-payment of dues, the country's power sector is prone to every problem imaginable, despite attempts by various governments over the years to fix the system.
As many as 60 million people in Pakistan (of the total 230 million population) remain disconnected to the electric grid. Pakistan also has some of the world's worst power outages and many households have to make do with several hours of load shedding every day.
The average power shortfall is 4,000 megawatts while gas deficit is said to be 57 million cubic meters per day.
