Baghlan hydropower dams being reconstructed

PUL-I-KHUMRI (PAN of two hydropower dams in northern Baghlan province, an official said on Monday.

One of the dams having the capacity to generate 4.5 megawatts of electricity is estimated to cost up to €32 million, provincial water and energy director Ghulam Husain Haidari told Pajhwok Afghan News.

The remaining €16 million would be spent on the second dam that would produce 9MW of electricity, he said.

Haidari said the plants had their water supply systems damaged and could not produce electricity regularly due to a lack of water storage facility.

Currently, the dams supply power to the Dand-i-Ghori Sugar mill in Pul-i-Khumri and Baghlan-i-Markazi district and intermittently to a textile factory and families living nearby, he said.

Power from the plants  is also supplied to half of Pul-i-Khumri’s populations.

The director said practical work on the projects would begin soon and with the completion, the number of consumers would increase from the current 30,000 to 50,000.

mns/myn