Kabul residents seek solution to excessive power outages

KABUL (Pajhwok): A number of residents of Kabul complain about hours of daily power outages while the Da Afghanistan Breshna Shirkat (DABS) says that the issue will be addressed with the completion 500 kv Shiberghan-Dasht-i-Alwan electricity transmission line.

Every year, with the arrival of winter season, the demand for electricity increases and this year the problem persists and residents want this issue to be solved.

Mustaq Parsa, a resident of Kart-i-Seh of Kabul City, complained against continued power outage and said: “We are supplied electricity when we don’t need it. There is no logic in power supply timings.”

He asked the officials concerned to find a permanent solution to the problem.

Nilofar Ahmadi, a resident of 13^th police district of Kabul, said that every year there was prolong power outages due to the extreme heat and cold weather (in winter and summer).

She said that currently they did not have electricity for more than six hours in 24 hours. “In this situation, when most people are unemployed, the price of liquified gas is high, we cannot afford to buy gas and fuel for generators.”

Meanwhile, Friba Ehsan, a resident of 7^th police district, held a similar complaint, said they also had prolonged power outages which created difficulties for them.

She said that some of their electrical appliances had been exposed to damage due to commuting and weak electricity.

All the three interviewees and some residents of other areas demanded a permanent electricity solution.

Hekmatullah Maiwand, a spokesman for the DABS, told Pajhwok that due to the decrease in production and the increase in demand for electricity, the level of power outages also went up.

“The electricity is imported and some of it is domestically produced. In recent months, the lack of water has affected the electricity and the power outages would increase if the situation continues,” he added.

“Currently, we supply electricity for three hours daily to Kabul residents, because during the day we have to supply it to the emirates office, industrial factories and also to political missions and only three or four hours outages occur at night,” he explained.

According to him, Afghanistan currently supplies 80 percent of its electricity from neighbouring countries including Iran, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and only 20 percent of it is generated from domestic sources.

Maiwanid said that the completion of 500KV Shiberghan-Dasht-Alwan transmission line project, the problem of power shortage would be solved.

Two weeks ago, an agreement has been signed on completion of the 500 kv Shiberghan-Dasht-i-Alwan electricity transmission line and expansion of a power sub-station.

The agreement was inked between Da Afghanistan Breshna Shirkat (DABS) and Afghan Invest Company.

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