Afghanistan Times
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KABUL: More than 10 dams and other water reserves across the country are too old and need urgent technical repairs, ministry of water and energy says.
Most of the dams were built 50 to 60 years ago with old technical standards, according to the ministry, which said they need new surveys and reconstructions.
“We have about 20 big and small dams in the country that have been built previously. They have been partly destroyed and face technical problems and we need to reconstruct them,” Farhad Noorzai, head of water program department of the ministry of water and energy said Monday.
Noorzai added that the dams of Soroobi, Daroonta, Qargha, Mahipar, Naghloo, Sar Hawz, Soltan, Dohla, Kajaki and a few others were assessed in the past two years and would be repaired based on a specific plan.
He added that construction of Qargha and Daroonta dams had already begun.
The Soltan, an old dam in Ghazni province was damaged by water pressures two years back.
Afghanistan yearly loses a great part of its water flowing to the neighboring countries due to lack of dams to reserve these waters, while most of the provinces are facing severe drought with people displacing and leaving their homes and dried farmlands.
“It is very important to reconstruct the dams party or basically to keep waters being wasted,” Ghola Rasool Samadi, an environment expert said.
President Ashraf Ghani had vowed in his early days as president to build 26 dams to save waters.
