Kunar residents use watermills to generate electricity

ASADABAD (Pajhwok): Residents of eastern Kunar province rely on watermills to generate electricity at their own expense to light up their homes.

Watermills have been a tradition in Afghanistan for centuries. But with the arrival of new technology, these mills are no longer in use.

But in Kunar, these mills still exit and are used by some people to generate electricity.

Residents of Asadabad, the provincial capital, and several districts have built hundreds of mills on the river and other water sources.

Mashooq, 55, a resident of the Ghundai village of Watapur district, has installed a small turbine on a watermill left behind by his grandparents.

Over the past 10 years, he has been supplying electricity to dozens of village inhabitants.

“The watermill was bequeathed to us by our ancestors. We have installed electric dynamos and supply electricity to 150 families,” he said.

Sale Mohammad, a resident of Dangam district, said he had been providing electricity to dozens of villagers over the past 20 years.

He added the villagers collected 250,000 afghanis and installed dynamos on the mill to generate electricity.

“Our mill remains active in the summer. We also grind grains to make flour for the people besides supplying electricity to 100 families,” he added.

He said Kunar was a water-rich province, but it still lacked regular electricity. He called on the government to use the Kunar River for power generation.

Shahabduddin Yasir, director of the power utility, told Pajhwok a survey had been carried out for the construction of five hydroelectric dams on the river by the previous government. He hoped work on the project would begin soon.

Once executed, the project would supply electricity not only to the whole of Kunar, but also to some other provinces.

He said the government was still making efforts to provide electricity to the people and progress had been made in this regard.

He said work on the Manogi power plant in Watapur district was being completed and the project would be put into service in the near future.

He said the power plant would provide electricity to about 8,000 families.

sa/mud