Master plan to cope with energy needs: Ismail Khan

KABUL): Water and energy minister Ismail Khan on Wednesday said a 20-year-long master plan aimed at providing residents across the country with cheap electricity “is being implemented.”

The Asian Development Bank has provided one and a half million for the project that had been jointly prepared by the energy ministry and a German firm, Khan told a press conference in Kabul.

Once implemented, the minister hoped the master plan would help improve the country’s energy sector and cope with increasing demand for electricity.

He said domestic resources like water and gas would be brought into use for energy production as part of the plan. The minister said the proposed plan would largely be concentrated on the development and reconstruction of hydropower dams in Kunar, Kokcha, Badakhshan and Kajaki.

The dams have the capacity to produce energy enough for the whole of the country, Khan said, adding construction work on the Kunar dam was underway and it would take another 12 years to complete at a cost of $1.12 billion. The plant would produce 787 megawatts of electricity.

The production of solar energy in Afghanistan has reached 23,000 megawatts that would be increased by 4,000 megawatts with the execution of the master plan, the minister said.

mrh/ma

Visits: 5