Russia to develop Afghanistan’s coal energy sector

KABUL (Pajhwok): Russian entrepreneurs have inked a memorandum on the development of Afghanistan’s coal-based thermal power sector.

In an interview, Russian Ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov said financiers from the Republic of Tatarstan had signed the memorandum.

The ambassador recalled businesspeople from the Republic of Tatarstan signed the deal in Kabul a month back. “It is a trilateral project with Iran and Pakistan.”

TASS news agency quoted the envoy as saying Russian pipe producers were prepared to join the construction of the Afghan part of the gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan and India.

Zhirnov said Russian engineers had inspected boiler houses, heating networks, water supply systems and power substations in Kabul.

The engineers are said to have drawn up a plan for the refurbishment of the Kabul utility system.

The Russo-Afghan trade volume had surged by 40 percent in a year, the ambassador noted, stressing the need for mutually beneficial cooperation.

PAN Monitor/mud