<p>MAIMANA (Pajhwok): Only two percent of work on the Dahna Dara dam in northern Faryab province has been completed in three years while more than a hundred security forces guarding the facility have been killed and wounded.</p>
<p>Pajhwok Afghan News reports show construction work on the dam in the Pashtunkot district of the province was launched in 2017.</p>
<p>Ministry of Water and Entergy officials say the project will be among five biggest dams in <a href="/en/afghanistan" class="glossify-link">Afghanistan</a>. Its proposed height is 67 metres and will have water storage capacity of 20 million cubic metres.</p>
<p>To be built at a cost of $37 million from government budget, the dam is designed to irrigate about 4,000 hectares of farmland and generate one and half megawatt of electricity.</p>
<p>Based on Pajhwok findings, just two percent of work on the massive project has been done over the past three years.</p>
<p><strong>Concerns over lack of progress</strong></p>
<p>Governor Naqibullah Faeq told Pajhwok: “The $40 million Dahna Dara dam’s contract has been awarded to a construction company named <a href="/wp-content/uploads/old/2(2).pdf">MPAT JV</a>. Work on it was inaugurated by the minister of water and energy three years ago, but little progress has been made so far.”</p>
<p>The governor said: “All the challenges have been addressed in the area, where security personnel have been stationed to guard the project. The president has also emphasised on accelerating the work but the contractor has resorted to delaying tactics.”</p>
<p>Faeq acknowledged people were tired of negligence on the part of central government officials and lies of the company. Residents would stage protests if practical work was not launched soon, he warned.</p>
<p>Feroz Dahan Dara, commander of the security forces in the dam area, promised full protection of the site. “Security forces have provided armored vehicles to engineers but no practical work has been done so far.”</p>
<p>More than 50 pro-government forces had been killed and 60 others wounded while providing security for the project over the past three years, Feroz added.</p>
<p><a href="/en/mullah" class="glossify-link">Mullah</a> Ghulam Nabi, a tribal elder, also complained local residents had left their homes and lands for the sake of the dam. He, however, regretted the snail-paced implementation of the project. He asked the government to explain the inordinate delay.</p>
<p><strong>Contract for high-ranking officials</strong></p>
<p>The project’s contract was given to MPTA JV Company. Atiqullah Nawsher, deputy advisor to the National Security Council, and Haji Mohammad Rassoul Faryabi, a member of <a href="/en/wolesi-jirga" class="glossify-link">Wolesi Jirga</a>, are deputy heads of the firm.</p>
<p>In 2017, Atiqullah Nawsher was appointed as deputy advisor to <a href="/en/nds" class="glossify-link">NDS</a>. A credible source confided to Pajhwok the dam contract had been given to a company owned by Atiqullah Nawsher and Haji Mohammad Rassoul Faryabi.</p>
<p>“Implementation of the project is the responsibility of the Alhashim group of the company, which belongs to Rassoul Faryabi, who should brief people why work on the project has been delayed,” he added.</p>
<p><strong>Analysts</strong></p>
<p>Prof. Wazir Safi, a lecturer in Political Science at <a href="/en/afganistan/kabul" class="glossify-link">Kabul</a> University, told Pajhwok infrastructure project contracts should not go to companies owned by government officials or public representatives. To her, doing so is against the law and paves the way for corruption.</p>
<p>“When a company is led by a government official or a parliamentarian, it certainly prioritises its own interests over the national interest. Secondly, the government doesn’t monitor such projects.”</p>
<p>Gul Rahman Qazi, a legal expert, claimed: “In this country, corruption has reached its peak. This is not the first time that such a thing has happened. Dozens of such contracts have been awarded to companies owned by government officials and lawmakers.”</p>
<p>Shahla Fareed, a Law and Political Science teacher at the Kabul University, agreed: “The important thing is whether the contractor is able to do quality work.</p>
<p>“In Afghanistan, huge project contracts often go to firms whose owners are either senior government officials or parliamentarians. These firms do not complete projects successfully.”</p>
<p>According to Fareed, such practice paves the way for corruption and the contracts should be provided to companies with good reputation and no links to government officials.</p>
<p>Syed Zainuddin Abidi, head of the Faryab Civil <a href="/en/society" class="glossify-link">Society</a> Network, alleged: “The contract for this huge project was awarded in violation of rules to a parliamentarian and the company used his influence for fund embezzlement.”</p>
<p><strong>MPTA JV </strong><strong>shareholder’s view</strong></p>
<p>Mohammad Rassoul, one of the shareholders of the firm who is currently in India, told Pajhwok his deputy would answer its queries.</p>
<p>Atiqullah Nawsher was appointed as deputy national security adviser on policy coordination on April 6.</p>
<p>Eng. Hamidullah Habibi, deputy head of the company, said: “Haji Mohammad Rassoul Faryabi is the deputy head of MPTA JV.”</p>
<p>About shares of Atiqullah Nawsher, he said the ATX Company belonged to his brother. Nawsher put in charge of the company when he was jobless but he left after being appointed as deputy advisor to NDS.</p>
<p>Eng. Fatehzada, the project manager, said the company won the contract in 2017 and its work should be completed in 62 months.</p>
<p>“After launching the project survey, we found the dam had a lot of problems in terms of construction and design.</p>
<p>“Our design team launched further studies and suggested the dam’s height should be increased because more water would break down the dam.”</p>
<p>According to him, the dam is hydraulically and flood-appropriately designed and its storage capacity has been increased to 25 cubic metres.</p>
<p>Water distribution and storage had been planned to international standards and modern equipment was needed to ensure the accuracy of flood forecast, he explained.</p>
<p>He added practical work on the project would start after the approval of the new design by the ministry.</p>
<p><strong>Response from government</strong></p>
<p>Ahmad Sair Nekzad, spokesman for the Ministry of Water and Energy, told Pajhwok about five percent work on the project had been done. The technical study and design have also been completed and practical work will be launched soon.</p>
<p>Referring to complaints of delay, he said the ministry wanted to focus more on quality and accuracy.</p>
<p>Asked why the contract was awarded to MPTA JV, he replied: “The firm has an official licence from the Ministry of Commerce. The contractor was hired in compliance with national procurement rules.</p>
<p>“The presence of Nawsher, deputy head of the National Security Council, or any other government official in the company had no impact on the deal,” he insisted.</p>
<p>“We will carefully oversee the project. All companies are equal to us and government officials involved in the company will have no impact on the monitoring process,” he said, when asked possible corruption efforts by high-ranking officials.</p>
<p>Samir Rasa, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, also called MPTA JV a company registered with them. But he called for exercising caution in award of contracts.</p>
<p>Pajhwok tried to reach the National Procurement Authority for comments on the issue, but its spokesman declined to respond.</p>
<p>sa/mud</p>
<p> </p>
