The World Bank Executive Board of Directors approved $24 million to go towards the Energy Sector Development Policy Operation for the Republic of Kyrgyzstan today. The goal of this project is to improve the long term reliability of the Central Asian republic’s energy supply, which has deep rooted structural issues. The country relies mostly on hydroelectric power but is very unreliable due to a multitude of issues.
AKIpress reports: “The Kyrgyz Republic has the lowest electricity tariffs in the Europe and Central Asia region, which contributes to the inefficient use of energy, severe under-spending on maintenance and new investments, and resulting poor supply reliability and quality. The patchwork regulatory framework and insufficient transparency and accountability result in operational inefficiencies and undermine public trust in the sector.” When these issues are coupled with the fluctuation in hydrology cycles, energy shortages become abundant. The issue has become more apparent in the winter 2014-2015 season as there has been a significant reduction in water flow to the much relied upon Toktogul reservoir.
The approach being taken is to focus on a few main policy areas including increasing electricity tariffs, strengthening energy sector governance and transparency, and better management of power shortages in remote and lower income areas. The hope is that by addressing these different policy areas that are interlinked at the core, energy supply reliability will greatly improve in the coming years.
Read more about this operation here.