Badghis residents want electricity extended to districts

QALA-I-NAW (Pajhwok): Some residents of western Badghis province have criticized the previous government for negligence to provide electricity to districts and have urged the Islamic Emirate to pay attention to this problem.

Haseebullah, a resident of Qados district, slammed the previous government for not extending power supply to districts of the province.

He told Pajhwok Afghan News despite the fact that electricity was imported from Turkmenistan at a high capacity into Badghis, its districts remained deprived of the facility.

He said: “Our request from the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is to extend electricity to districts so that people can use it as it will help increase the income of the government.”

Meanwhile, Mohammad Shafiq, a resident of Aab Kamari district, made similar complaint, saying the past government had failed to pay attention to districts.

He said Badghis had enough electricity which should be extended to districts as well in order people could benefit from it.

Safiullah Safa Afzali, a professor at Badghis University, said electricity was an important necessity and its extension to districts would bring about prosperity and economic development.

He said if electricity was provided to districts, it would create employment opportunities and would generate income for the government as well.

“Since all work and activities depend on power, so electricity can be one of the most useful energies in production, processing and services sector in society,” he added.

Khairullah Khairkhwa, provincial director of the power utility, acknowledged only Qala-i-Naw city was provided electricity.

He said they planned to extend electricity to districts in the future.

He said so far preliminary surveys had been conducted in Qados, Maqur, Dar-i-Bam, Aab Kamari and Sang Atash districts to stretch electricity lines to these districts.

“Currently, five districts have been surveyed, we have decided to extend electricity to districts.”

Afghanistan imports 430MW of electricity from Uzbekistan, 440 MW from Tajikistan, 202 MW from Turkmenistan and 102 MW from Iran.

sa/ma