Every so often, we hear news about commitment, start or operation of energy projects but after all this and spending billions of dollars on energy sector, most of the Afghan cities are still left in dark because of inadequate planning and management of energy projects. Many energy sector related projects could not follow its deadlines for completion or commissioning. It caused shortage in supplying energy to the consumers of electricity or other forms of energy. There were some considerable and main foibles for leading all efforts to partial failure.

However, Government ministries and international development partners were working on energy projects during last 14 years but there was a lack of coordination and investment harmonization among them. Ministry of Energy and Water, DABS (state-owned electricity utility), Ministry of Mines and Petroleum and foreign donor agencies such as ADB, WB, USAID (SIGAR) divulged in a report that the United States Department of Defence Contractor, the Task Force for Business and Stability (TFBSO)  has spent nearly $43 million for constructing a single gas station which is 140 times more than it should have cost. This much wastage of money could have been prevented if this project have been managed by the Afghan government. The other reason for making a coordination and management center is that by managing projects through various organizations, the experience of project implementation can’t be united and kept for the betterment of next ones.

The government should have prioritized the projects as per the needs of the national grid. Huge amount of money is spent on small electricity generation projects which cannot be proved as effective investment. In some cases, it has been witnessed that a project is planned and implemented but could not be commissioned and operated because it was still out of the chain of the projects or system. For example, the 220kV power transmission line connecting Chamtala to Arghandi Substation in Kabul city was completed in 2015 but the installation of electrical equipments in Arghandi substation has not been started till date which need at least two years itself for completion and being operated. By doing such poor management and showing such works to the people, energy sector can’t keep the required support from the communities.

Skilled labor is still an issue towards energy sector related projects. Most of the projects are managed by hired international experts which are paid many times more than the national manpower. However, it may be difficult to find the competent national personnel in some of the fields but mostly it is because the government is not paying attention to the matter as it should be. For example, in some of the electrical power project, the driving and other very simple works are done by foreign manpower which is very easy and apposite to be done by local labor. From the other hand, Supervision of the projects can be done by locals better than foreign experts.

Land acquisition is a potential cause of deferment of energy projects. Considerable plots of the public land are occupied by the warlords in almost every province and in some cases it is difficult to acquire that for the projects. Some projects of DABS were delayed because of this. Looking at the other side, Lack of proper mutual understanding in acquiring private land can lead security problems to the project as well.

In conclusion, if the situation remains the same; a large amount of resources may be spoiled because of poor management and ill use of it. To prevent this, the following are suggested as priority steps for keeping electrifying the country smoothly:

• Scope of work for all the organizations working for energy needs to be clarified. And Proper coordination and communication channels between all the partners should be improved.
• Government should take sedate steps towards creating domestic professional manpower. For this, it is required to improve the curriculum of both the private and public universities.
• Land acquisition process to be improved. A guideline book for this purpose should be provided to the implementation agencies.
• For attracting support of public, specially the communities where projects are implemented, the government should raise vast awareness campaigns towards understanding energy needs and appropriate use of it. This can have a significant part in securing power transmission lines, gas pipes and other energy properties. People will support energy projects if they are aware enough and convinced about its benefits for changing the lifestyle of the communities positively.

View expressed in this article are of the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Pajhwok’s editorial policy.

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