Over 33.1bn afs collected in revenue last year: DABS

KABUL (Pajhwok): Da Afghanistan Breshna Shirkat (DABS) has recovered 748 acres of its land from grabbers and collected 33.1 billion afs in revenue last year.

Officials of the power utility, speaking at an accountability week gathering here on Tuesday, provided a report on their activities and achievements in the past year.

DABS spokesman Hikmatullah Maiwandi said 748 acres of land was wrested back from usurpers in Kabul, Nangarhar, Parwan and Baghlan provinces. In addition, 46 DABS buildings were also recovered in Kabul and Balkh.

Maulvi Abdul Rahman Rahmani, business head of the company, said they collected over 33.17 billion afs revenue from customers during the year.

DABS also converted more than 70,000 analog energy metres into digital ones during the period, he announced.

In the past, the income of DABS was collected according to an offline system in 28 provinces of the country. But that system has now been converted into a low-cost online arrangement, Rahmani explained.

Safiullah Ahmadzai, operational head of the power utility, said 500 million KW of electricity was generated from domestic resources and DABS collected about 3.5 billion afs from its sales.

The extension of a 170-km power transmission line from Kajaki dam in Helmand to Kandahar was completed at a cost of $3.5 million. Work on the Chimtal substation has been finalised and it will the inaugurated in near future.

About ongoing loadshedding in the country, especially in Kabul, Ahmadzai said the reason was increased power consumption in the summer.

To further strengthen the power supply system, a bidding package has been prepared at a cost of 1.7 billion afs and will soon be announced.

According to officials, DABS has paid off the cost of imported electricity. Currently, they claimed, Afghanistan was not indebted to any country.

aw/mud