KABUL (SW): Officials at the Afghanistan Chambers of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) has said that based on their findings, more than 600 factories have remained inactive due to power outages for weeks now.
Khan Jan Alokozay, ACCI Vice President told Salam Watandar that the blackouts have inflicted financial losses worth more than $ 1 million. He warned that if the situation continued, the factories might sack their staffers in a month.
Three weeks ago, the Taliban damaged an electricity transmission tower in Dand-e-Shahabuddin area in northern Baghlan province. Once the tower, which transmitted 289 megawatts of electricity from Turkmenistan to Kabul was destroyed, the capital sunk into darkness.
Security forces succeeded to take control of the area around the damaged tower after three weeks of intense fighting but the Afghanistan Breshna Shirkat (DABS) has not allowed its personnel to go and fix it for the fear that the area will be again targeted by the militants.
Khan Jan Alokozay warned that if the problem was not fixed within few days, many people who work in the factories would lose their jobs. He emphasized that the government should take immediate action to solve the problem.
Alokozay added that if the factories in the country were deprived of electricity, the country would lose the competition of importing goods to the neighboring countries.
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