KABUL - The World Bank would provide $128 million in aid grant to Afghanistan for water management and reconstruction of the Naghlu dam under agreements signed on Sunday in Kabul, officials said.
The contracts were signed between WB country director in Afghanistan and the Afghan finance and agriculture ministers and the head of Da Afghanistan Breshna Shirkat in Kabul.
Up to $45 million would be spent on the project of on-farm water management while the rest ($83 million) would be spent on the reconstruction of the Naghlu dam in Kabul, Finance Minister Eklil Hakimi said.
Hakimi said the hydropower dam had the capacity to produce 96 megawatts of power but the capacity would be increased to 75 MW after the completion of the schemes.
Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock Minister Asadullah Zameer said 120 water channels would be reconstructed and 175 others designed during the four-year project which would provide irrigation water to nearly 22,000 hectares of land and would resolve the water shortage for 3,000 additional hectares of land.
DABS chief Qudratulalh Dilawari said $83 million allocated for the reconstruction of Naghlu dam would be spent over the next six years.
Robert Saum, the WB country director for Afghanistan, said they would provide the grant to support the agriculture sector, agricultural production and energy sector of Afghanistan.
The World Bank has spent more than $41 million on on-farm water in Afghanistan under the Afghanistan Reconstruction Fund since 2012. (Pajhwok)