The construction of power dam, designed to produce 1.2 megawatts of power in addition to irrigating 2,700 hectares of agricultural land in Kabul, was inaugurated by President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday.
The project is funded by government and costs around USD 48 million, according to Water and Energy Minister Ismail Khan. The dam would have a height of 77 meters, storing 9.3 million millimeter cubic of irrigation water.
The construction contract was awarded to an Iranian firm called Tabileh and Parhoon in 2010 and it was to be completed in three years and a half.
President Karzai commented during the ceremony that the international community does not have long-term development for Afghanistan. “So it’s our responsibility to build dams for ourselves and arrange funds for the projects,” the president explained. “The international community doesn’t focus on areas they don’t want to work in…However, we won’t complain and are duty-bound, like other nations, to do what we need to.”
Currently, 1,200 megawatts of electricity are available in Afghanistan and 36% of the population has access to it, while the country needs 5,000 megawatts of electricity.
