The World Bank has approved additional financing of $10mn for a project aimed at electrification in Tajikistan’s rural areas.

The Tajikistan Rural Electrification Project aims to provide electricity access to households in remote mountainous areas of the Central Asian country and support efforts to export electricity to neighbouring communities in North-Eastern Afghanistan. The project has supported improved electricity access in two of the poorest and most remote regions of Tajikistan, namely the southeastern Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) and the southwestern Khatlon Region.

“This strategic investment supports efforts to connect households in some of the poorest and most remote areas of Tajikistan to electricity, thereby providing them with opportunities to engage in economic activities, strengthen human capital and reduce fragility risks along the border with Afghanistan,” Jan-Peter Olters, World Bank country manager for Tajikistan said. “This objective is supported further by the ability to connect the local electricity grid with that of neighbouring communities in Afghanistan and strengthen socio-economic development on either side of the border.”

Projects include the installation of renewable energy-based microgrids to use solar, wind, micro-hydro and battery energy storage systems along with small hydropower plants to help meet growing electricity demand.