Lack of power to be solved in next 2 years

The minister of economic declared that the problem of lack of power in Afghanistan will be solved up to the next two years.

Afghanistan ranks among the countries with the lowest electricity production per capita in the world.

Despite billions of dollars in projects over the past decade, at best one-third of the population has access to regular power.

Abdul Satar Murad, minister of economic said that a joint commission has been started working for widespread use of electricity in the country.

Murad noted that many issues regarding the development of electricity in Afghanistan were discussed in RECCA summit.

“All of our needs in power field will be solved up to the next two years which the country would benefit from electricity and its transit,” Abdul Satar Murad, minister of economic said.

Currently, Afghanistan produces about 500 megawatts of electricity — less than a number of Caribbean islands. The country imports another 500 megawatts from neighboring countries.

The number of Afghans with access to electricity has only inched up from 6 percent in 2001 to an estimated 10 percent now, well short of the development goal to provide power to 65 percent of urban and 25 percent of rural households by the end of this year.

It has been said that the spreading insecurity in northern parts of the country caused the projects to not be implemented but Murad stressed that the enemy is not able to destroy public interest.

“Insecurity would not have negative impacts on implementation of our projects and those who invest in this program will not face any challenges,” Murad added.

Despite spending millions of dollars over more than six years studying the nation’s natural gas fields in the north, no plan is in place to tap that substantial resource for power. And a huge project to expand hydropower in the south that already has cost about $90 million is delayed by continued fighting in the region, which has long been a Taliban stronghold.

Murad emphasized that he will determine budget for those projects which stopped working due to lack of budget.

Afghanistan desperately needs to jump-start its economy if it hopes to stand on its own. But there’s a major constraint for a country trying to build a modern economy: electricity shortages.