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Construction work on Helmand dam started
Stanekzai - Jun 24, 2008 -
courtesy: Pajhwok
news
LASHKARGAH : Construction work of a dam started in the southern
Helmand province to irrigate more than 60,000 hectares of
agricultural land.
Helmand deputy governor Haji Mirzakowal said in a ceremony that
the dam in Nawa district will divert the Helmand River water to
farms in the district.
He said the construction work will take six months with $800,000
fund provided by a non-governmental organization.
An official of the irrigation department Engineer Khan Agha said
the dam will irrigate 65,000 hectares of land in Nawa district.
He added that the canal leading to farming lands passes through
Garmsir district with 70 sub-canals spread from it.
A local elder in Nawa Haji Nader Khan said provision of
irrigation water will pave the way for many farmers to quit
cultivating poppies. He said many farmers in the district were
growing poppies because of shortage of water and less benefit of
other crops
Roads, power-supply projects completed
Muhammad Barat, Jafar Tayar - Jul 3, 2008
courtesy: Pajhwok
news
AIBAK/FAIZABAD : A 45-kilometre roads
linking rural areas were built in the northern Samangan province
while three power-supply projects were executed in northeastern
Badakhshan on Thursday, officials said.
Rural Rehabilitation and Development Director Eng. Javid Javid,
in a chat with Pajhwok Afghan News, said a 32-km road stretch
was paved and a 13-km route black-topped in Khurram and Sarabagh
districts.
He recalled the road projects were launched in March under the
work-for-food programme that provided jobs for more than 900
people. With the completion of the schemes, the director said,
residents of 45 villages had their transportation problems
resolved.
Eng. Javid added that over 162 tonnes of food items, provided by
the UN agency World Food Programme (WFP), were distributed to
workers under the National Solidarity Programme (NSP).
Meanwhile, three power supply projects were completed in Argoi
district of the northeastern Badakhshan province. District chief
Abdul Jabar Musadiq said the projects - costing more than five
million afghanis would provide 55-kw power to 560 houses.
Electricity is provided free of cost to the people, according to
Musadiq, who explained of the 145 projects proposed for the
district, 24 including seven electrification schemes had been
implemented.
www.quqnoos.com
Written by PAN
Wednesday, 02 July 2008
Province bordering Kabul starts to use solar power to light up
markets
BAZAARS in a province bordering Kabul are slowly trading in
their hurricane lamps and diesel generators for a more
eco-friendly energy source.
About fifty street lamps, powered by the sun, have been
installed in five bazaars in Kapisa province as part of a
$90,000 plan that sponsors say will improve security in the
area.
Bagram Airbase’s Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) started to
install the solar powered street lamps three months ago in the
market places of Tagab, Najrab, Sayad, Kohistan and Jamal Agha.
The district governor of Najrab, Sultan Ahmad Safi, said the new
lights would improve security in his district by allowing
security forces to improve their night operations.
The head of the district’s artisan union urged the PRT to
install 20 more lamps because the current ones failed to provide
enough light for the bazaar.
Before the solar powered lamps were installed, the districts’
bazaars relied on kerosene-fuelled hurricane lanterns and diesel
generators to light up the night sky.
United Press
International
Published: June 6, 2008
KABUL, Afghanistan
Afghanistan
has the potential to rely on its own oil and gas reserves to
finance redevelopment, a diplomatic official said Friday..
Afghan
Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Abdul Farid Zikria said
his country started using foreign investments to conduct
geological surveys to develop its own resources, Emirates
Business reported.
"Such a
strategy will make it possible for us to be self-reliant,
confront future challenges and realize the sustainable and
comprehensive development of our country," he said.
Zikria said
Afghanistan has the potential to produce at least 24,000 MW of
energy from its coal, gas and hydrological resources. The $4
billion, 1,044-mile Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India
gas pipeline will also boost Afghanistan's revenues, he said.
The
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline will
run from Turkmenistan's Dauletabad gas field to Afghanistan.
From there it will be constructed from Herat in western
Afghanistan to Kandahar in the south of the country, and then
via Quetta in western Pakistan and Multan in eastern Pakistan,
and ending at the Indian town of Fazilka.
Afghanistan
has uncovered significant oil deposits in Katawaz and Helmand
provinces and plans to launch an exploration program for oil and
gas in the northern Jozjan province, Zikria said.
"We are very
rich in natural resources," he noted.
New
hydrological station at Qargha Dam opened
Pajhwok Reporter - Mar
25, 2008
KABUL (PAN): A
new hydrological station was opened Tuesday at Qargha Dam near
Kabul by the Afghan Deputy Minister of Energy and Water, Eng.
Shojaudin Ziaie, and the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization
(FAO), Eng.
Mohammad Aqa.
The Qargha
station is one of the networks of 174 hydrological stations and
60 snow gauges and meteorological stations being supplied and
installed around Afghanistan. The hydrological stations will
measure water levels, precipitation, temperature and water
quality in order to provide the information necessary for
planning water supply, irrigation and hydropower projects,
drought mitigation, operation of reservoirs, monitoring
environmental trends and other water management activities.
The installation
and rehabilitation of hydrological stations in Afghanistan is a
must for proper planning, development and management of water
resources in the country, said Shojaudin Ziaie at the opening
ceremony of the Qargha station.
There is no food
security in Afghanistan without water security, Mr. Shobair
senior engineer of FAO added.
The hydrological
station network is part of the nationwide Emergency Irrigation
Rehabilitation
Project, started in 2004, implemented by the Ministry of Energy
and Water and funded by the World Bank and technical assistant
of FAO. The aim of the project is to reduce poverty in rural
areas by providing the water resources needed for the foundation
for a dynamic rural economy in Afghanistan.
Parallel to the
construction of the new hydrological station, reconstruction
work was completed on the Qargha Dam. The water reservoir, aside
from being a popular recreation site for the people of Kabul,
provides irrigation water for 2,000 hectares of land, as well as
water for the western part of the city. In the result of
rehabilitation of Qargha dam, after 11 years, irrigation water
is provided to Badam Bagh Research farm, Bagh-e Balah Garden and
other irrigated areas under this dam.
Power projects in
Laghman, Nangarhar discussed
Pajhwok Reporter - Mar
26, 2008 - 15:12
JALALABAD (PAN):
International Security Assistance Forces, Ministry of Energy and
Water officials and engineers from Nangarhar and Laghman met
earlier in the week for an energy conference on the Forward
Operating Base Fenty.
Participants
exchanged ideas on future power projects besides discussing
existing facilities in the region, the NATO-led force said on
Wednesday. The conferees discussed numerous projects to help
build and revitalise the current power grid in Nangarhar and
Laghman.
Outdated power
facilities in the two eastern provinces were in need of repair
or replacement, explained Redi Gul, Nangarhars director of
energy. The Kunar Dam Project and the Naghlu-Jalalabad
Transmission Line Project are currently under survey.
Before the
projects could begin, ISAF pointed out, lengthy surveys must be
completed to determine if the plan was feasible. The Kunar
project will consist of seven dams on the Pech River and could
potentially supply the region with 1,100 mega-watts of power.
According to a
statement from ISAF, the Nanghlu-Jalalabad Transmission Line -
expected to be completed in September 2009 - would bring 20
mega-watts of power to the region.
If focused in the
commercial sector on large-scale industry like agricultural
processing plants and cold storage which require a persistent
power source, electricity generated by the projects could bring
much-needed sustainable economic growth to the region.
The economic
influx from these and other business could drastically reduce
the excessive unemployment rate, arguably the major problem in
the region, the statement added.
At the end of
conference, Deputy Commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade
Combat Team Col. Mark Johnstone encouraged the provinces to
develop their own self-sustained projects that would lead to
employment and economic growth.
Talks on TAP gas pipeline project on April 22, 23, Turkmenistan
to present gas reserves certification
By Zafar Bhutta Daily Times (Pakistan) March 10, 2008
ISLAMABAD: Negotiations on the Turkmenistan- Afghanistan-
Pakistan (TAP) gas pipeline project will be held in Islamabad on
April 22 and 23, sources in the Petroleum Ministry told Daily
Times on Sunday.
Turkmenistan would present a third-party certification of its
gas reserves during the talks, they said.
Turkmenistan claims to have gas reserves of 159 trillion cubic
feet (TCF) at its Daulatabad fields, but Pakistan wants a
third-party certification. Issues of project structure, security
problems in Afghanistan, transit fee and gas pricing would be
also discussed, sources said.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) had earlier scheduled the talks
for November 27 and then for February 23 and 24, they added, but
other stakeholders were reluctant to join in, apparently due to
emergency rule and then a caretaker setup in Pakistan.
They said the estimated cost of the proposed project was $6
billion to $7 billion. The ADB is the main sponsor, they added,
but tenders would also be invited from other investors.
“Oil companies like Shell and British Petroleum Company will
also be invited to participate in the project,” a source said.
Although India seems to be distancing itself from the proposed
Iran-Pakistan- India gas pipeline project, it could join the TAP
project as the fourth stakeholder, the sources said.
India has earlier been participating as an observer in talks
between Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The sources said Pakistan would import 3.2 billion cubic feet of
gas from Turkmenistan and would share some of it with India.
A 1,680-kilometre pipeline will run from the Daulatabad gas
fields through Afghanistan and Quetta to Multan, according to
the proposed project.
Power Cuts Still Leave Kabul
in the Dark
The Associated Press
By JASON STRAZIUSO
14/01/2008
KABUL, Afghanistan
Gul Hussein was standing under a pale
street lamp in a poor section of east Kabul when the entire
neighborhood suddenly went black.
"As you can see, it is dark everywhere," the
62-year-old man said, adding that his family would light a
costly kerosene lamp for dinner that evening. "Some of our
neighbors are using candles, but candles are expensive,
too." More than five years after the fall of the Taliban —
and despite hundreds of millions of dollars in international
aid — dinner by candlelight remains common in the Afghan
capital of Kabul. Nationwide, only 6 percent of Afghans have
electricity, the Asian Development Bank says. The
electricity shortage underscores the slow progress in
rebuilding the war-torn country. It also feeds other
problems. Old factories sit idle, and new ones are not
built. Produce withers without refrigeration. Dark, cold
homes foster resentment against the government.
In Kabul, power dwindles after the region's
hydroelectric dams dry up by midsummer. This past fall,
residents averaged only three hours of municipal electricity
a day, typically from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., according to USAID,
the American government aid agency. Some neighborhoods got
none.
"That's a scary sounding figure because it's pretty
tiny," said Robin Phillips, the USAID director in
Afghanistan. "So we're talking about the relatively poorer
people in Kabul who have no access to electricity at this
time of year."
Electricity was meager under the Taliban too, when
Kabul residents had perhaps two hours of it a day in fall
and winter. The supply has since increased, but not as fast
as Kabul's population — from fewer than 1 million people in
the late 1990s to more than 4 million today.Meanwhile,
souring U.S. relations with Uzbekistan have delayed plans to
import electricity from that country. Power is not expected
to arrive in a significant way until late 2008 or mid-2009.
"Life takes power," said Jan Agha, a 60-year-old
handyman from west Kabul who recalled how the city had
plentiful power during the 1980s Soviet occupation. "If you
have electricity life is good, but if there's no electricity
you go around like a blind man." Some in Kabul do have
electricity: the rich, powerful and well-connected.
Municipal workers — under direction from the Ministry
of Water and Energy — funnel what power there is to
politicians, warlords and foreign embassies. Special lines
run from substations to their homes, circumventing the power
grid. International businesses pay local switch operators
bribes of $200 to $1,000 a month for near-constant power, an
electrical worker said anonymously for fear of losing his
job.
If high-ranking government officials visit the
substations, workers race to cut off the illegal
connections. Large diesel generators, which businesses and
wealthy homeowners own as a backup, rumble to life.
Ismail Khan, the country's water and energy minister,
dismisses allegations of corruption as a "small problem."
"The important thing to talk about is that in six
months all of these power problems will be solved, and
everyone will have electricity 24 hours a day," he said, an
optimistic prediction that relies on heavy rains next spring
and quick work on the Uzbekistan line.
Colorful maps on the walls of Khan's office show
existing and future power lines. There's a wall-mounted air
conditioner — a luxury in Afghanistan.
India, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank
have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on new power
lines — including transmission towers installed this summer
at 15,000 feet over the Hindu Kush mountains — to import
electricity from Uzbekistan.
Though the line from Kabul to the Uzbek border is in
place, a 25-mile section in Uzbekistan has not yet been
built. And the U.S. has little leverage to speed it up, said
Rakesh Sood, the Indian ambassador here.
Initially, Uzbekistan supported the
U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, opening an air base to U.S.
planes. But the Uzbek government no longer views America as
a friend, ever since U.S. leaders loudly criticized the
country's human rights record when government-backed forces
massacred peaceful demonstrators in 2005.
Even when the Uzbek line is completed, Afghanistan
can no longer expect the 300 megawatts originally
envisioned, Sood said. That would have been more than the
190 megawatts Kabul has today and a significant boost to the
770 megawatts Afghanistan has nationwide.
"We know we'll get significantly less. I wouldn't
hazard a guess as to what it will be," Sood said. "At that
time the U.S.-Uzbek relationship was very high and it has
deteriorated substantially."
President Hamid Karzai, during a radio address to the
nation last fall, said he discussed with President Bush the
country's need to produce its own electricity.
But some efforts have run afoul of the
continuing Taliban insurgency. A new U.S.-financed turbine
for a hydroelectric dam in Helmand province is a few months
away from being installed because of the "lack of
permissiveness in the environment," USAID's Phillips said,
using a euphemism for the spiraling violence there. Also,
more than $100 million is needed to upgrade Kabul's
antiquated distribution system, and it remains unclear who
will pay.
"One doesn't like to see the kinds of numbers that
we've been talking about, but I wouldn't call it a failure,"
Phillips said. "To put a little more positive spin on it we
all wish things could happen more rapidly." The lack of
power has hamstrung U.S. efforts to boost agriculture
production, too.
"The No. 1 challenge to agribusiness is electricity,"
said Loren Owen Stoddard, USAID director in Kabul for
alternative development and agriculture. "You can't keep
things cold and you can't bottle them without power."
The U.S.. is purchasing fuel-powered generators that
will provide 100 megawatts of power for Kabul by late next
year. The power will not come cheap at 15 to 20 cents per
kilowatt-hour, compared with just 3.5 cents for electricity
from Uzbekistan. But until the Uzbek power comes in,
Afghanistan has no choice.
"It's going to be more oil-fired power and praying
for rain to get the hydropower going," said Sean O'Sullivan,
regional director with the Asian Development Bank. On a
smaller scale, India has spent $2.2 million to outfit 100
villages with $450 solar cells. They dot the flat rooftops
in Mullah Khatir Khel, a mud-brick village an hour's drive
north of Kabul. Each cell can power a couple of light bulbs.
"I am very happy, why should I not be happy? I am using
these bulbs and lanterns provided by India," said villager
Abdul Gayoom. "Before we used to burn oil lamps, now it's a
big saving."
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