Ministry of Energy and Water is planning to increase the capacity of water in Dohla Power Dam in Kandahar by rising the walls of the dam by eight meters.

The deputy minister of energy and water, Abdul Basir Azimi, said the move will increase water for irrigation and will boost the capacity of the dam.

He said the Asian Development Bank has pledged $321 million USD for reconstruction of the dam.

According to him, the dam has the capacity of holding 314 million cubic meters of water and after the reconstruction the capacity will increase substantially. 

“At least $321 million USD will be invested in the infrastructure plan which is related to the water of Arghandab River. The fund will be provided by the Asian Development Bank until 2023,” he said.

Azimi said a foreign company has been assigned to technically and financially assess the project and that the reconstruction of the dam will kick of next year.

“The study and the survey of the project has been contracted with a New Zealand company worth $2.1 million USD. For one year, the company will assess all the designs which have been considered for the project and it will complete its hydrologic studies during this period,” he added.

Analysts said boosting the capacity of water reservoirs in the country’s dams is an urgent need for the country as the people are faced with lack of irrigation water and electricity in many areas.

“The construction and reconstruction of dams are important for irrigation and energy production because they will provide irrigation water to farmers and electricity to the people,” said Shoaib Rahimi, an analyst.

The Dohla Dam is one of the important dams in Kandahar which irrigates 64,000 hectares of land in the province.

The dam was built in 1973. The ministry of energy and water says it will install turbines in the dam during its reconstruction.