Laghman residents call on IEA to start work on Shahi Canal

The tribal elders and residents of Laghman have called on the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan to start construction of Shahi Canal as soon as possible.

The canal, once complete, will irrigate thousands of agricultural lands and provide many job opportunities.

“The river is only a river because it is not useful to us. This is how the river flows, there is drought in this district,” said a Laghman resident.

The canal is located in Laghman’s Alingar district which according to local officials, will stretch 35 kilometers.

The local officials are also asking high-ranking government officials to pay more attention to this canal and implement other projects in this province.

“This is an important project at a national level, this is a project that will employ hundreds of young people and hundreds of acres of government land will be irrigated,” said Mohammad Naeem Haqqani, deputy of Alingar district.

Meanwhile, Laghman governor stated that the deputy prime minister for economic affairs’ office has approved the construction of this project and its practical work will begin soon.

“Mullah Baradar has ordered that we should start the work on Shahi Canal immediately, and the issue has reached the point where we have to start the work,” said Zainul Abideen, Laghman governor.

The residents of this district, however, have pointed out that a survey of this canal was done in the previous government, but due to insecurity and some other problems, its practical work was not started.