ZARANJ (SW) – President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani inaugurated the Kamal Khan Dam in Nimroz province on Wednesday.
The opening of this dam coincided with the recently declared National Day of Water Management.
At the opening ceremony of Kamal Khan Dam, the President said that one channel of this dam will be completed this year and the government has decided to complete all the channels of this dam. Ghani emphasized that the government is determined to manage Afghanistan’s water resources in a serious way.
He added that the economies of the two countries (Afghanistan and Iran) are complementary to each other, and not opposed to each other.
Kamal Khan Dam is one of the most important water dams in the country, the design and construction of which began in 1975. The first stage of construction of this section was completed in the Solar Hijri Year of 2012 and the second stage was completed in 2015. The construction of the third phase of this section had started at the end of 2017. The cost of building the dam was estimated at $ 78 million at the time, but now officials say about $ 200 million has been spent on the dam.
Kamal Khan Dam has a storage capacity of 52 million cubic meters of water, which can irrigate about 174,000 hectares of agricultural land. This dam also has the capacity to generate 9 megawatts of electricity.
Kamal Khan Dam has been attacked on a number of occasions in recent years. According to the Office of the President, in the last two years alone, there have been 35 attacks on it that left at least 39 security forces killed.
President Ghani laid a wreath at the memorial of security forces killed while guarding the Kamal Khan Dam.
President Ghani was flanked by both of his deputies and a number of other dignitaries and officials.
ENDS
