Imported power from Uzbekistan is back up to 300 megawatts, the country’s power company, Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS), said on Sunday.
DABS also said that efforts are underway to increase imported electricity to 450 megawatts to normalize power distribution in the country.
Previously, DABS said that the imported power from Uzbekistan was reduced to 150 megawatts from 300 megawatts, and that from this Kabul would get 65 megawatts.
Most parts of Kabul had only 20 minutes of electricity in recent days due to technical problems and electricity outages.
Data has indicated that in the past 18 years, the international community spent about $4 billion on Afghanistan’s electricity infrastructure.
Critics note that DABS, Afghanistan’s main power supply company, pays $100 million to Uzbekistan annually, but it cannot say when the power shortage problem will come to an end.
“The electricity-providing countries give us electricity if they want to, but if they do not then Kabul goes dark” said Noor Zaman, a resident of Kabul.
Meanwhile, social media users have also criticized President Ashraf Ghani for what they described as his failed policies to ensure power generation from domestic sources.
President Ashraf Ghani pledged greater domestic electricity sources during his first term.
“This year we will generate more electricity–what we couldn’t achieve in the past 100 years,” said Ghani in 2014.
Before the outage, Afghanistan imported 450 megawatts of power from Uzbekistan. With the cut from Uzbekistan, now the government has only the capacity to provide 160 megawatts from domestic sources.
In the past 18 years, Afghanistan has imported power from Iran, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan but has not invested in its own resources.
Annually, Afghanistan spent $300 million for imported power from other countries.
