The National Development Company says that 25% of the first phase of the Qosh Tepa Canal's construction is completed.

According to company figures, there are 2,600 machines and more than 4,000 workers operating in this canal, and there are presently more than 100 active work sites on the canal.

"Qosh Tepa Canal is one of the most significant development projects of the nation--it was planned under the republic of the late Sardar Mohammad Dawood Khan,” said Farid Azim, provincial manager of the National Development Company.

The first phase of the Qosh Tepa Canal will cost 8 billion Afghanis to build; however, the funds for the second and third phases will come from the selling of mines, particularly the Dar-e-Souph Mine.

The National Development Company added that the Qosh Tepa Canal will mechanize Afghan agriculture.

"We are now driving Afghanistan's agriculture toward standardization for the first time. Therefore, if we want Afghanistan to find food security, we must first take scientific, then industrial, and lastly commercial steps,” said Abdulrahman Attash, head of the National Development Company.

The Qosh Tepa Canal will bring Afghanistan closer to economic self-sufficiency and decrease the amount of grain imports, according to the Chamber of Commerce and Investment.

"If the Qosh Tepa Canal is constructed, hundreds of hectares of land will be irrigated, and we will be self-sufficient,” said Khanjan Alikozai, a member of the ACCI.

More than 200 companies are presently engaged in the construction of the first phase of the Qosh Tepa Canal, and some of these companies are working on the canal at night because of the increased workload.