Business
Despite ongoing challenges Herat’s Pashdan Dam is close to completion
The Afghanistan National Water Affairs Regulation Authority (NWARA) said Friday at least 85 percent of construction work on the Pashdan Dam has so far been completed.
The dam, which made the news earlier this month after being attacked by Taliban, is one of the National Water Affairs Regulation Authority’s key projects for this solar year.
Work on the dam, on the Hari River in Karkh district of western Herat province, started 10 years ago. Once complete it will hold 40 million cubic meters of water and will generate 2MW of electricity and irrigate at least 13,000 hectares of land.
Plagued by problems, construction work at the site stopped for three years before being resumed last year but in November, reports indicated that Taliban insurgents had warned officials and workers at the dam to stop work on the project.
The group reportedly told dam officials the project had not been approved by the Taliban, so work should be stopped – which did not happen.
But earlier this month, Taliban attacked the dam, killing three security personnel, and wounding one other. Four security personnel are still missing.
NWARA officials meanwhile said that once the dam is complete, water will be fed to Herat city, where it will be used to irrigate the greenbelt around the city and supply potable water to residents.
The Afghan government is funding the $117 million (8.9 billion AFN) project.
This is one of a number of dams currently under construction in the country – to not only provide water to local communities but also to help increase power supply.
Earlier this week, another key dam was inaugurated by President Ashraf Ghani and his two deputies, Amrullah Saleh and Sarwar Danish.
The Kamal Khan dam in southern Nimroz province, was widely welcomed by residents who will also benefit from irrigation canals to help water crops.
The Kamal Khan dam will not only generate at least nine megawatts of electricity for the local community but will also irrigate over 180,000 hectares of land.
Nooruddin Azizi, Acting Minister of Commerce and Industry, met with representatives from the ministries of foreign affairs, defense and interior of Malaysia, along with other senior officials, on Wednesday and called on Malaysians to invest in Afghanistan.
The visiting delegation is being led by senior diplomat Dr. Shazelina Zainul Abidin.
According to the IEA’s foreign ministry, the two sides discussed bilateral trade, holding a business communication conference to strengthen trade relations between the two countries, the trade balance between Afghanistan and Malaysia, and creating a market for Afghan products, including carpets, cotton, and minerals.
According to the ministry, at the end of the meeting, the Acting Minister emphasized the increase of investment from regional countries in Afghanistan and called on Malaysian investors to also invest in Afghanistan.
The Ministry of Interior says that Afghanistan has started exporting goods to Turkey via the Herat-Khaf railway line.
In a post on X, the ministry said: “Afghanistan’s exports to Turkey started in a calm atmosphere through the Herat-Khaf railway line.”
The ministry added that one train will run daily for a month and then two trains will run daily.
According to the ministry, the security of Khaf-Herat railway line is provided by the guards of the National Public Protection Agency.
Khaf-Herat railway project not only connects Iran and Afghanistan by rail, but also completes a 2,000-kilometer route along the east-west rail corridor from China, through Uzbekistan, to Afghanistan, to Iran, and on to Turkey and Europe.
As a landlocked country, this railway network will provide a safe route to connect with Europe via Iran’s railway network and Iran’s southern ports.
This railway line is strategic for trade between Iran and Afghanistan and will allow six million tons of goods to be sent between the two countries.
A joint expo between Afghanistan and Kazakhstan will be held in Kabul in the next four days, officials said on Sunday.
Officials of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce said that the two-day expo will be held for the purpose of expanding and strengthening trade relations between the two countries.
“This expo will be held as a follow-up of the Kazakh-Afghan international expo, which was held in the city of Astana, Kazakhstan, with the participation of a large delegation of the government and the private sector of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” Abdulsalam Javad Akhundzadeh, the spokesman of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, said.
“At this expo, domestic products from different sectors of Afghanistan and the Republic of Kazakhstan will be put on display for two days.”
According to officials, 40 large Kazakh companies, and 40 large Afghan companies will exhibit their products.
Mohammad Saber Latifi, head of the Afghanistan International Expo Center, said that fruits, minerals and commercial services will be displayed at the expo.
During the expo, various memorandums of understanding for the trade of goods are also expected to be signed by companies.
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