Naghlu power transfers to Nangarhar

JALALABAD (PAN): The project of transferring 16 Mega Watts(MW) of electric power from Naghlu dam to eastern Nangarhar and Laghman provinces was executed on Saturday, officials said.

Three cabinet ministers, parliamentarians, members of provincial council and local officials had participated in the inaugural ceremony in Ghochak area of Sorkh Rod district, where the sub-station for electricity was installed.

The Water and Energy minister Mohammad Ismail Khan addressed the gathering, the project costing $37 million was completed in three years with the financial support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

“Only the security issue was hindering the project, but we executed the project with the cooperation of locals,” Khan said.

The power supply lines to Nangarhar and Laghman have the capacity of 90 MW electricity, but currently they would transfer four MW to Laghman and 12 MW to Nangarhar provinces, he added.

In the next two years, the government would work on the enhancement of the capacity of the dam in Nangarhar to produce more power, the finance miniter, Hazrat Omer Zakhelwal, said.

“More projects had been allocated to Nangarhar, including second road of Kabul-Jalalabad highway,” Zakhilwal said.

Supplying electricity to the provinces is a positive step, if the officials distribute it fairly, the deputy speaker of lower house of parliament, Zahir Qadeer, said while asking from Khan that Nangarhar needs more electricity.

The Nangarhar governor Gul Agha Sherzai said that he fulfilled his promises with the people for lightening the Nangarhar.

Joji Tokeshi, the ADB country director for Afghanistan, said that they have completed rehabilitation projects, costing $700 million in Afghanistan.

ml/myn

Visits: 4