Senior officials from Afghanistan’s power utility company Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) met Wednesday with directors of Bayat Power to discuss enhanced cooperation in generating electricity for the country. 

According to a statement issued by DABS, their CEO Abdul Bari Omar met with Ali Kasemi, Bayat Power’s CEO, in Kabul. Omar expressed gratitude for the company’s contributions as a national investor.

Bayat Power is Afghanistan’s largest private Electric Power Production and Development Company. 

The company owns and operates Bayat Power-1, the first in a new generation of Gas to Electricity power generation plants that provide affordable, reliable and environmentally sustainable electric power to homes and businesses in Afghanistan. 

During the meeting, Omar highlighted the growing interest from investors in power generation while Kasemi  “affirmed his commitment to cooperate with DABS and indicated his intention to expand production capacity.”

DABS said this move was welcomed by Omar, who said in turn that Bayat Power’s services had a positive impact on the Afghan people. 

Omar also outlined various opportunities within Afghanistan’s power generation sector and encouraged Bayat Power to pursue further investments as a national investor.

“The meeting underscored a shared commitment to enhancing electricity services and growth in energy sector,” DABS said in its statement.

Phase 2 of Bayat Power-1 on the cards

In August, Bayat Power officials said they are hoping to start work soon on Phase 2 of Bayat Power-1 in northern Jawzjan province in order to increase electricity production output for Afghanistan.

Company officials said at the time they were in  discussions with relevant government departments to start the project.

Mohammad Shoaib Sahibzada, the technical head of Bayat Power, said that once Phase 2 is complete, electricity production will increase from 40 to 100 megawatts.

Sahibzada said Bayat Power's natural gas to electricity generation project will eventually produce up to 250 megawatts of electricity once Phase 3 is complete.

“Currently, it has a production of 40 megawatts, and in the second phase, it will produce 100 megawatts. Bayat Power is in contact with the relevant officials regarding the start of the second phase, the discussions are ongoing,” said Sahibzada.

Bayat Power has produced over one billion kilowatt hours of electricity in just under five years after starting commercial operations in late 2019.

Sahibzada said that over the past five years, the company has also worked on capacity building of its technical employees.

Leading the way

After 40 years, Bayat Power is the first private company to produce electricity from natural gas in the country and the multi-million dollar plant uses Siemens Energy’s SGT-A45 mobile gas turbine for its economic efficiency, flexible deployment, and power density.

Currently providing electricity to hundreds of thousands of end-users and generating more than 300 million kWh annually, the project was structured as an innovative public-private partnership between Bayat Power, Siemens Energy, and Afghanistan government entities such as the Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, the Ministry of Energy and Water, and the General Directorate of Afghan Gas Corporation Company, Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), and international partners.

The Bayat Group is the largest private investor in Afghanistan and Bayat Power is currently the only gas-powered plant in the country. The Siemens Energy’s SGT-A45 mobile gas turbine used by the company is the only one in operation in the world.

The Islamic Emirate has signed a contract for the exploration and extraction of natural gas in the Totimaidan gas field in northern Afghanistan with a company from Uzbekistan, the ministry of mines and petroleum confirmed.

The ten-year contract includes an investment of about $1 billion and was signed on Thursday by Afghanistan's deputy prime minister for economic affairs Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar Akhund and a representative of the Uzbek company.

According to the agreement, the company will invest $100 million in the first year and the balance of $900 million over the following nine years.

In the first two years, extracted gas will be used to generate 100 megawatts of gas-powered electricity.

The gas reserves of the Totimaidan gas field in Jawzjan province cover an area of approximately 7,000 square kilometers.

Once extraction begins, it will significantly boost the country's gas needs and create both direct and indirect employment opportunities for thousands of citizens.

Pakistan’s Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) has called on Islamabad to take steps to reopen the key Afghanistan-Pakistan Highway for trade and transportation.

In a statement issued this week, SCCI President Fazal Moqeem said trade has been brought to a halt due to the closure of Afghanistan-Pakistan trade routes over the past few months. 

He said the mutual trade volume and transit trade had dropped to an alarming level owing to the closure of the trade route. As a result, trade has shifted from Pakistan to Iran and Central Asian Republics.

The SCCI chief feared bilateral trade would grind to a halt completely if Islamabad fails to resolve the issue urgently. 

“This will not only be detrimental to the national economy but also trigger unemployment owing to the closure of business and trade,” said Muqeem.

Meanwhile, Zahidullah Shinwari, a businessman, stated that the bilateral trade volume level had decreased substantially, and that traders on both sides have incurred huge financial losses. 

Shinwari said local people and travellers also faced enormous hardships due to the blockaded highway. He called on Islamabad to urgently resolve the problem. 

Shinwari called for a solution to be found to the issue with mutual consensus and negotiation.

The ongoing trade challenges, including route closures, rising customs tariffs, and what Afghanistan sees as Pakistan’s disregard for established trade agreements, have had a significant impact on Afghan exports. 

For Afghanistan, Pakistan remains one of the most important trading partners. The two countries share long-standing economic ties, with Afghanistan relying heavily on Pakistan as a market for its agricultural products, including fresh fruits, vegetables, and dry fruits.

The reduction in Afghan exports comes at a critical time when the country’s economy is in dire need of stability and growth. The disruption of trade routes and the imposition of tariffs further complicate efforts to strengthen Afghanistan’s trade sector and promote economic recovery.