GARDEZ (SW) – The residents of Ahmad Abad district in Paktia province on Monday closed down the Gardez – Patan main highway in protest.
The protesters said the government has not fulfilled its promise of supplying electricity and building Machalgho Dam in the past 17 years. The said electricity transmission line from Tajikistan reached the province four months ago, but only few homes in the provincial capital are supplied with electricity from that line.
They urged the government to waste no time in building the Machalgho Dam in the province.
According to the protesters, the minister for water and energy, Mohammad Gul Khilmi, had promised during a meeting with the elders from the Ahmad Abad district that the design for the Machalgo Dam would be completed in a month’s time.
In the meantime, Abdullah Hasrat, vowed the government institutions are striving hard to develop the dam here. He said up to 18,000 families in Gardez city are receiving electricity at the moment, and following the completion of the distribution lines, Ahmad Abad district would also receive electricity.
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