Jul 15, 2008 - BBC Monitoring Central Asia

The export of electricity to Kazakhstan began from 14 July this year, the press secretary of the Elektricheskiye stantsii [Electric power stations] joint stock company, Natalya Orlova, has told the [Kazakhstan Today] news agency's correspondent.

Due to the period of water shortage, the total volume of export will be minimum this year and will amount to about 500m kWh. It was not possible to fully give up supplying electricity abroad, as it is the main source of revenue for purchasing fuel for the Bishkek thermal power plant.

Orlova said that the start of export was related to irrigation needs of neighbouring countries and repairing the high voltage power line linking the north and south of Kazakhstan.

The export of electricity will be made in line with agreements concluded between the Elektricheskiye stantsii company and certain consumers in Kazakhstan, as it was not possible to reach intergovernmental agreements.

[Passage omitted: electricity will be export until the end of August]

Originally published by Kazakhstan Today news agency website, Almaty, in Russian 0802 15 Jul 08.

(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring Central Asia. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.

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