MAIMANA - Only two percent of work on the Dahna Dara dam in northern Faryab province has been completed in three years while more than a hundred security forces guarding the facility have been killed and wounded.
Pajhwok Afghan News reports show construction work on the dam in the Pashtunkot district of the province was launched in 2017.
Ministry of Water and Entergy officials say the project will be among five biggest dams in Afghanistan. Its proposed height is 67 metres and will have water storage capacity of 20 million cubic metres.
To be built at a cost of $37 million from government budget, the dam is designed to irrigate about 4,000 hectares of farmland and generate one and half megawatt of electricity.
Based on Pajhwok findings, just two percent of work on the massive project has been done over the past three years.
Concerns over lack of progress
Governor Naqibullah Faeq told Pajhwok: “The $40 million Dahna Dara dam’s contract has been awarded to a construction company named MPAT JV. Work on it was inaugurated by the minister of water and energy three years ago, but little progress has been made so far.”
The governor said: “All the challenges have been addressed in the area, where security personnel have been stationed to guard the project. The president has also emphasised on accelerating the work but the contractor has resorted to delaying tactics.”
Faeq acknowledged people were tired of negligence on the part of central government officials and lies of the company. Residents would stage protests if practical work was not launched soon, he warned.
Feroz Dahan Dara, commander of the security forces in the dam area, promised full protection of the site. “Security forces have provided armored vehicles to engineers but no practical work has been done so far.”
More than 50 pro-government forces had been killed and 60 others wounded while providing security for the project over the past three years, Feroz added.
Mullah Ghulam Nabi, a tribal elder, also complained local residents had left their homes and lands for the sake of the dam. He, however, regretted the snail-paced implementation of the project. He asked the government to explain the inordinate delay. (Pajhwok)