Jul. 28, 2011 - news.xinhuanet.com

JALALABAD, July 28 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese company will help Southern Kyrgyzstan upgrade its power grids.

Speaking at a commencement ceremony in the Bazar-Korgon district of the Jalal-Abad region, Kyrgyz Prime Minister Almazbek Atambayev said that during the years, China has offered a lot of assistance and support to Kyrgyzstan, and his country appreciated the selfless help.

The project, named "Datka 500 kilovolts power transmission station", is of great significance to Kyrgyz economic and social development, which is also a important step to ensure the national energy security, Atambayev said.

Signed by Kyrgyz National Grid Company and Xinjiang Tebian Electric Apparatus Company (TEBA) in February, the contract amounts to 208 million U.S. dollars, and the whole project will be finished in 18 months.

"The transit of electricity through Uzbekistan cost Kyrgyzstan 8 million U.S. dollars every year,"the general director of the Electric Power Stations OJC Medet Aitkulov said.

"We comply with the Chinese technology standards, using safe, energy efficient, intelligent, and green technology to achieve the world's most advanced energy-saving technology transmission," TEBA Chairman Zhang Xin said.

Chinese Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan Wang Kaiwen said that the project marks the largest inter-governmental project since the two countries establishing diplomatic relations. "Completion of the project will form a separate power grid in Southern Kyrgyzstan, which greatly improves the local power grid transmission and distribution capacity, reliability and security.

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