The World Bank and the Government of Uzbekistan on 30 April expanded their collaboration in the energy sector by signing a Memorandum of Understanding for the development of the proposed Talimarjan Power Transmission Project.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed at the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan by Philippe H. Le Houerou, Regional Vice President for Europe and Central Asia Region representing the World Bank Group, and Rustam Azimov, First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, representing the Government of Uzbekistan. Motoo Konishi, Country Director for Central Asia and Loup Brefort, Country Manager for Uzbekistan were also present.

In the Memorandum of Understanding the two parties undertake to join efforts to meet growing electricity demand in the South-Western part of Uzbekistan; improve the reliability of electricity supply by strengthening the network and reducing transmission losses; and enhance Uzbekistan's potential to export energy.

"The Memorandum of Understanding signed today further advances the ongoing dialogue on the energy sector," said Philippe H. Le Houerou. "This project will be the first IBRD loan requested by Uzbek government under the current Country Assistance Strategy. It offers numerous benefits in terms of improved system reliability and increased export/transit capacity. The population in South-Western Uzbekistan will be the main beneficiary of the project. The project will help to increase the region's competitiveness in terms of industrial and commercial development and may lead to the creation of new jobs."

The proposed Project to be financed in part by the World Bank with an IBRD Loan of about $140 million. It is associated with the expansion of the Talimarjan thermal power plant that is to be financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and the Uzbekistan Fund for Reconstruction and Development (UFRD).

The World Bank financed part of the Project will cover construction of a 500/220 kV new substation at Talimarjan TPP; a 218 km 500 kV single circuit transmission line from Talimarjan TPP to Sogdiana substation; and a bay extension at Sogdiana substation. The existing Karakul Gujjar line, passing close by would also be interconnected to the new Talimarjan substation, by a short interconnection.

These measures will result in the reduction of the electricity outage rate, reduction of losses in the electricity transmission network, increased volume of electricity supplied to residential and business consumers, and new opportunities to increase the export electricity to the region.