Qishloq Ovozi (Archive)

A new proposal by Pakistani officials could bring much needed energy to people in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan during the frigid winters in a long-planned project that will also see Central Asian energy go to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

A chain of hydropower plants strung across Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan are a key part of the Central Asia-South Asia 1000 (CASA-1000) energy project that aims to bring some 300 megawatts (MW) of electricity to Afghanistan and 1,000 MW to Pakistan annually.

Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov said on a visit to the 1,200 MW Toktogul hydropower plant (HPP) on October 18 that "the effective implementation of the CASA-1000 project will greatly increase the export potential of the country to states in South Asia."

Toktogul has been the key domestic source of power for Kyrgyzstan for more than 40 years and, according to Jeenbekov, after its current modernization the HPP will continue to operate for at least another 40 years.

That is not only important for Kyrgyzstan but for the entire CASA-1000 project.

As the governments in Bishkek and Dushanbe have anxiously watched the project develop, they have been looking forward to reaping new revenues from the sale of power to Pakistan and Afghanistan.

But Pakistan has just asked for a change to that equation that would benefit the Tajik and Kyrgyz people during cold months but make CASA-1000 a bit less profitable for the state coffers of their countries.

Fantastic News?

Waseem Mukhtar, Pakistan's power division additional secretary, said in September that Islamabad wants CASA-1000 to be an "open access" power line, meaning that Pakistan could export its electricity as well as receive it from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

In comments published by Pakistan's The News on September 22, Mukhtar claimed Pakistan now has a surplus of electricity during some months and could supply Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan with electricity during the winter when those two countries need it most.

At the same time, Islamabad would import the 1,000 MW annually that it agreed to take during the summer when its needs are greatest.

Looking at CASA-1000 as a regional power project, this announcement appears to be fantastic news.

Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have done a lot in the last decade to improve their ability to generate and distribute power across their countries in the winter.

But power outages and rationing continue -- and a new source of power brought via a transmission line that should soon exist would benefit many people in the two Central Asian countries.

Outside Help

With a great deal of outside help, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have been busy preparing their HPPs and building new power transmission lines in expectation of exporting electricity and earning extra revenue.

Pakistan's proposal suggests there would simply be an exchange during certain months -- take some energy now and give some later.

This would significantly diminish the profits going to Bishkek and Dushanbe.

Jeenbekov spoke at Toktogul not only to remind people of the reservoir's importance, but also to announce that the HPP's modernization -- due to be finished in 2023 -- is currently ahead of schedule.

The modernization was necessitated by the fact that three of the four turbines at Toktogul went out of operation at the end of 2015.

The Asian Development Bank and the Eurasian Development Bank are financing the replacement of all four turbines, to be carried out by French and Swiss companies.

As part of the CASA-1000 project, a 500-kilovolt power transmission line still needs to be built from the Datka power substation in Kyrgyzstan to the Khujand substation in Tajikistan.

There are also huge costs for construction and upgrades in Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

International financial organizations are covering some of the costs, but the individual governments will have to pay for much of the HPP and substation upgrades as well as power transmission lines.

Tajikistan's Sangtuda-1 HPP, built with Russian help, and Sangtuda-2 HPP, built with Iranian aid, are both part of the CASA-1000 project and both HPPs have consistently been in the red since they were launched, in 2009 and 2011, respectively.

Security Concerns

Pakistan's Mukhtar also mentioned another change Islamabad wants to make to CASA-1000.

Security in Afghanistan has always been a concern and Mukhtar said if there was a disruption in the supply of electricity from Central Asia to South Asia "during the period from May to October then Pakistan will penalize the electricity supplier countries."

This is crucial because power lines from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to Afghanistan have been cut temporarily several times in recent years.

That last demand appears to be a new requirement from Pakistan on multinational energy projects that transit Afghanistan. The News reported in July that Islamabad had conveyed a similar demand for the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) natural gas pipeline project.

"In case of a halt of gas provision to Pakistan because of any subversive activity in Afghanistan, Pakistan will never take the risk at any cost, rather Turkmenistan will have to bear the risk," the report said.

In the case of CASA-1000, it is worth mentioning that fighting in Afghanistan increases during the spring and summer, the months when Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan would be exporting their electricity south.

The potential of CASA-1000 would be augmented by Pakistan's reverse flow of electricity, though it remains unclear how much electricity Pakistan could provide or why it now says it has a surplus of energy in the winter.

But the new option does require a new explanation of the importance of the project for people in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Profit from the project would be in increased production capacity at factories and plants, as well as healthier populations sitting in well-heated, well-lit homes -- not entirely in export revenues from the sale of electricity.

Kazakhs could be excused in recent weeks for thinking they were stuck in a rerun of Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous -- or perhaps the rich and infamous.

Kazakhstan's long-serving first president and still-in-control elder statesman, Nursultan Nazarbaev, and some of his relatives have been making the news in a way that will certainly not help the family's reputation.

Nazarbaev stepped down as president of the oil-rich country in March after heading independent Kazakhstan for more than 27 years -- and before that for more than two years as head of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Kazakhstan.

The former steelworker amassed a fortune during his reign, the gargantuan size of which can only be guessed upon.

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On His Watch: The Dark Events Of Nazarbaev's Long Reign

Among his riches, according to an October 9 report on the Metro news site, is a home on Billionaires Row, officially named The Bishops Avenue, in north London's swanky Hampstead area.

The website says the home -- purchased in 2008 for some 50 million pounds ($65 million), making it "one of the most expensive houses in the U.K." -- belongs to the "former President of Kazakhstan Nursultan [Nazarbaev]."

That was not the only news of an amazing property acquisition abroad involving the Nazarbaev family that was in the news lately.

The Swiss magazine Bilan reported on August 21 that Nazarbaev's second daughter, Dinara, had acquired a castle, the Chateau de Bellerive, near Geneva for some $63 million. The same article said Dinara had bought other property in Switzerland worth some $75 million in 2009.

Dinara is married to Timur Kulibaev, one of Kazakhstan's wealthiest businessmen. Forbes magazine estimated their combined wealth at $3.4 billion.

Concerning the house on Billionaires Row in north London, it was in the report because it was one of several extremely expensive houses in that area that have inexplicably been abandoned by their owners and are slowly but sadly falling into ruin.

Drug-Fueled Bender

Moving along to a London courtroom on October 18, Aisultan Nazarbaev, the 29-year-old grandson of Kazakhstan's first ruler, was on trial for creating a disturbance at a London hotel on June 3 when he went out on the balcony of an eighth-floor room and threatened to jump.

Two days later a woman called police after a man tried to enter her central London home from a balcony. It was Aisultan -- who had already broken into a neighboring apartment and apparently did some laundry as some of his clothes were found in the owner's washing machine.

When police arrived at the apartment, Aisultan deeply bit into an officer's arm, forcing police to taser him. Aisultan's defense attorneys blamed a drug addiction for the incidents, which might also explain why Aisultan did not go to the nearby, empty 50-million-pound home that his grandfather owns and run wild there.

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Bling Cake Wows VIPs At Nazarbaev Relative's Wedding In Kazakhstan

The court gave Aisultan an 18-month suspended prison sentence, fined him 1,000 pounds (some $1,300) for his public disturbances, and ordered him to pay 5,000 pounds ($6,500) more for damage to the first apartment he broke into. He was also ordered to perform 140 hours of community service and undergo treatment for drug addiction. Aisultan has reportedly had a narcotics problem for several years.

He is the son of Nazarbaev's eldest daughter, Darigha, and her notorious husband Rakhat Aliev, an overly ambitious man who ruthlessly acquired key businesses in Kazakhstan and, according to Kazakh prosecutors, set his sights on deposing his father-in-law.

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New Probe Sought As Expert Claims Kazakh President's Former Son-In-Law Was Murdered

He was found dead in an Austrian prison cell in February 2015 in what was ruled a suicide but a death that many suspect involved foul play.

This is all news from outside the borders of Kazakhstan.

Lavish Circumcision Party

Back at home, the ex-president's younger brother, Bolat, caused quite a stir in social media circles and elsewhere by holding an incredibly opulent circumcision party for one of his sons in the southern Shymkent area on October 17.

Video taken at the event shows Bolat Nazarbaev, 66, arriving by helicopter, where he is met by a large police escort that accompanies him from the landing site to the party.

Police are clearly visible providing security for the large event that had hundreds of guests.

In one clip, Bolat decides to reward someone for some unknown deed and reaches into his pocket to reveal a fat pile of dollars from which he peels several off and distributes them generously.

While no one knows the exact source of Bolat's incredible wealth, many found the bigger problem to be the use of at least two helicopters and all of the police.

Who paid for all of that? If the answer is the state, it seems to be a very flagrant abuse of government money.

These instances are far from the first time there have been amazing stories about the Nazarbaev family's incredible wealth and extravagant lifestyles.

SEE ALSO:

Hectic Times In Kazakhstan Recently, And For The Foreseeable Future

But even though Nursultan Nazarbaev continues to have a huge amount of power in Kazakhstan, he is no longer the country's president.

Such rapacity may have been grudgingly tolerated by Kazakhs for nearly three decades, but protests over social and political conditions have been growing in 2019 at a considerable pace.

Foreign houses worth millions of dollars, private circumcision parties paid for by the state, and drug benders in London by a 29-year-old member of the presidential family are only increasing resentment with the current status quo in the energy-rich country.

RFE/RL's Kazakh Service contributed to this report.

Huge hat tip to Ryskeldi Satke (@RyskeldiSatke) for his seemingly tireless monitoring of the news in Central Asia, in this case the videos of Bolat Nazarbaev's celebration.