Herat factories owners complain electricity shortage

HERAT CITY (Pajhwok): Some factories owners of the industrial park in western Herat province have complained against the shortage of electricity and said they were facing problems to run factories.

The owners of these factories which are considered important for industrial development in the western zone of the country have asked the government to address this problem.

They said unscheduled electricity outage hampered their production.

Nazir Ahmad, the owner of a biscuit factory, said in case of electricity outage and frequent on and off caused their production to be cut by half, adding that this put negative impact on their work plan, daily activities and workers’ salaries.

Farid Ahamd Khatibi, the owner of cold drink factory, said electricity outage and non-availability cut their production by half.

He said due to electricity outage they had to stop and start their work and this practice hampers their production.

“We have some fixed expenditures from 50,000 afs t 60,000 afs, if we work or not we have to pay this and when there is electricity outage we suffer losses.”

Hameedullah Khadim, head of the Industries and Mines Chamber, acknowledged the electricity shortage issue in Herat City industrial Park and said the problem existed from the past several years and there was need basic solution to this problem.

He also asked the central government to take steps for the resolution of electricity problems.

Mawlavi Bashir Mohammad Seerat, head of the Commerce and Industry Department, said effective steps had been taken to address the electricity shortage issue of the industrial park.

He said efforts are underway to strengthen electricity import supply line from Iran and Turkmenistan. In addition, efforts were underway to reactivate the Noor Jihad substation and provide its electricity to the industrial park.

He said: “We have two plans to strengthen the electricity of the industrial park, one is to strengthen the electricity of Turkmenistan to increase the electricity capacity, and the other plan is to establish the Noor Jihad substation in Herat province, and with its implementation, the electricity problems will be solved.”.

Lately, the production of factories in Herat industrial park has increased and some companies have exported their products to European and American countries. Currently, more than 300 small and large factories are operating in the industrial park of this province.

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