The Ministry of Energy and Water (MoEW) said that the reconstruction of electricity substations has been started from Dasht Alwan to Chowk Arghandi and to Tarakhail of Kabul with a total cost of almost $70 million.
The acting minister of MoEW, Abdul Latif Mansoor, told TOLOnews that these substations will be built in two months, and upon their completion, a way to import 1000 megawatts of electricity from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan will be provided.
“This 500kv line is supposed to be extended to Turkmenistan, we have already talked to them and then we can import 1,000 megawatts of electricity to Afghanistan and the electricity blackouts will be solved,” he added.
According to him, he has also received an order from the leader of the Islamic Emirate to produce 250 megawatts of electricity based on domestic energy.
“We have received a decree for the production of 250 megawatts of electricity from Amirul Momineen (Islamic Emirate’s leader), to provide the facilities and build substations in different provinces and provide people with electricity,” said Abdul Latif Mansoor.
Several residents of Kabul who have faced several challenges due to the electricity blackouts, asked the Islamic Emirate to address the electricity issues.
“All the facilities are provided by electricity, electricity blackouts are increased both during the day and night, the problems are increased in the city and the electricity blackouts should be decreased,” said Mohammad Omer, a resident of Kabul.
“We want the Islamic Emirate to provide electricity for at least 8 or 9 hours in 24 hours,” said Ahmad, another resident of Kabul.
Officials in the Ministry of Energy and Water say that they have been in contact with a lot of investors to produce more electricity from different sources and they will start their investments in the near future.