Ghani suspends TUTAP execution process

KABUL (Pajhwok): President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday suspended procurement and execution process of the Turkmenistan-Uzbekistan-Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (TUTAP) electricity project and assigned a 12-member commission to assess the situation within 10 days.

The multimillion TUTAP power import project will pass through different Afghanistan provinces, including the strategic Salang Pass and Kabul, reaching Pakistan.

However, residents of central Bamyan province say the project be routed through Bamyan instead of Salang, but officials say routing the project through Bamyan is costly and would prolong the project implementation by several years.

The president issued a six-article decree that said all documents relating to the 20-year master plan of electricity for Afghanistan and documents of all government and private sectors and of the related international organizations be assessed by the commission.

According to the decree, the commission should submit its report with suggestions to the Presidential Palace in 10 days in order to resolve current issues for the sake of national unity and interests of Afghans.

In the third article of the decree, it was stated that the execution and procurement process of the project should be suspended until the commission’s investigation was unveiled.

Headed by Dr. Mohammad Humayoon Qayumi, the commission is comprised of Barna Karimi, Faizullah Zaki, Abdul Qayum Sojadi, Asadullah Sadati, Ahmad Behzad, Eng. Mohammad Nasir Ahmadi, Haji Almas Zahir, Hasibullah Kalimzai, Ustaz Mohammad Akbari, Syed Sadat Mansoor Nadari, Abdul Satar Murad and Hazrat Omar Zakhelwal.

The decree was issued hours after thousands of people protested in eastern and southeastern provinces, demanding the project’s execution through the actual route (Salang).

Earlier, protests had been carried out in central provinces opposing the project route through Salang instead of Bamyan province.

myn/ma

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