Dahla dam’s walls being raised by 8 metres

KANDAHAR CITY (Pajhwok): Water and Energy Minister Arif Noorzai on Monday said they planned to reconstruct and raise by eight metres the walls of Dahla Dam in southern Kandahar province.

Accompanied by his ministry officials and lawmakers from Kandahar Noorzai, who arrived in Kandahar City, told reporters the dam, the second largest in Afghanistan, was being rehabilitated to produce 10 megawatts of electricity and double irrigated land at a cost of $308 million to be provided by the US and Afghan governments.

Kandahar Water Management Authority Director Eng Sher Mohammad Attayee told Pajhwok Afghan News six reservoirs would be also built around the main dam.

He said the reconstruction of the dam’s walls would take four years to complete and thousands of Kandahar residents would find job opportunities.

Previously, $150 million had been set aside to raise the dam’s walls by five meters, but later the government decided to raise them by eight meters.

Attaee said the canalisation system for Dahla and Arghandab dams had been already completed with financial support from Canada in 2011.

That project included building internal and external gates of the dam, some buildings and a garden, roads and cleaning of streams, Attayee added.

mds/ma

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