KABUL): Water and Energy Minister Ismail Khan and his visiting Iranian counterpart Majid Namjoo on Sunday inaugurated in Kabul the installation of two power generators, each consuming 18,000 litres of fuel per hour.
Gifted by Iran, each generator has the capacity of producing 50 megawatts of electricity per hour. Ismail Khan said the generators would be used only in emergency situations.
“These generators have great value for us. We’re thankful to Iran for this assistance,” Khan told the inaugural ceremony.
Namjoo said he had been invited by the Afghan government to talks with energy officials on how to increase the level of electricity imported to western Afghanistan from his country.
Khan said Iran had agreed to increase electricity exports to Herat province from the current 90 megawatts to 140 megawatts and to Nimroz from 30 to 40 megawatts.
He said the neighbouring country was ready to sell Afghanistan an additional 100 megawatts of power for consumption in Farah province.
The Iranian minister said his country had bought the two generators from Germany for $10 million and gifted them to their Afghan brothers to meet their emergency needs.
Namjoo also revealed having brought a letter from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the concerns of the two countries over the management of shared water resources.
Without going into details, he said he would hand over the letter to Karzai later in the day, insisting the two countries should bring into effect a water treaty that predates the 1979 Iranian revolution to avoid a possible future dispute.
He said the resources were crucial to the well-being of populations and future development hopes of the two countries.
ma/mud
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