The Indian government has approved more money to complete work on the Salma Dam. The project in western Afghanistan has been years in the pipeline.
The Indian government has approved more money to complete work on the Salma Dam. The project in western Afghanistan has been years in the pipeline.The 42 MW dam project on the Hari Rud river is located in the district of Chesht-e-Sharif, east of Herat city. Once completed it will water 75,000 hectares of agricultural land. But Iran will lose the use of water now flowing from the river.
That may be the cause of some of the security concerns around the project.
Two years ago, the governor of Chesht-e-Sharif was killed in an attack that the Taleban owned up responsibility for. According to local police reports, the Taleban commander in the area was pro-Iran.
New reports
The media blamed the project’s failure to keep a 2010 deadline for completion on Iranian interference in security.
Now there are new reports that four Iranian engineers have been employed in the project on the recommendation of the powerful Minister for Water and Energy, Ismail Khan. The project is being handled by the Indian company WAPCOS – Water and Power Consultancy Services (India) Limited.
In early November 2012, Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs, Jawed Ludin, visited the project site along with Indian Ambassador Gautam Mukhopadhaya. Engineer Mohammad Akbar, the representative of the Ministry of Water and Energy for the project told the media his minister has signed a contract with four Iranian engineers to advance the affairs of the project.
Commander of the Salma Dam security, Azizul Rahman, confirmed the Iranian engineers are working on the dam.”Only four Iranian engineers are working based on an Afghan government agreement,” he told Killid. ‘They are engineers from private companies. Now they have gone on vacation,” he added.
However,Deputy Minister for Water and Energy Shujauddin Ziayeedenied the presence of Iranian engineers in the Salma dam project. “We have not employed any Iranian engineer in Salma,” he said categorically. “This is gossip. The budget is from India, and if there is any contract, it may have been signed by the Indians.”
Killid interviewed the Indian ambassador in Kabul. Asked if he was concerned about Iranian meddling in the project, Mukhopadhaya said there were many concerns but work has never stopped because of security. “We have never stopped the work due to this reason. (Now) we have given additional money as well,” he added.
The ambassador said the delay was a result of many issues like resource constraints, security, and logistic and technical problems. He ruled out that any of the problems were political.
“The Salma Dam project is a big project, the delay in such projects is not ordinary. The delay is based on different causes … mostly unexpected events happen,” he said.
In his opinion the “small issues” snowballed into creating a hurdle in the way of completion of the project. The government of India realised the project could not be built at costs estimated at the beginning, he added.
“Now the budgetary problems have been solved. If other problems don’t occur the project will be completed within two years (end of 2014),” he said, very optimistically.
What about security concerns? The Indian ambassador was clear. “The issue of security must be managed by the Afghan government because we cannot control it,” he replied.
Deputy Minister for Water and Energy Shujauddin Ziayee said security was not a problem at the project site. “The security problems are not felt at the project site but there are problems on the way,” he pointed out.
Police commander for Salma dam, Azizul Rahman, also insisted security was air-tight as a result of the support and cooperation of people. “Two hundred security personnel are at work ensuring security for Salma Dam and other areas of the district. If there is a problem it would be on the way not at the project site.”
Local opinion
Killid spoke to an Afghan engineer at the site who was optimistic the dam could be constructed in a year if the technical challenges faced are sorted out.
According to the Afghan engineer, the breakdown of crucial machinery is along budgetary and technical problems a reason for the delays the project has faced. “When one part of a machine gets faulty it goes to India and then comes back through Dubai and Bandar Abbas port in Iran which can take three months,” he explained.
Locals in Chesht-e-Sharif district (the place where the dam locates) are adamant interference by Iran is a major reason for the delay in completion of their dam.
Sayed Omar Ferotan, a tribal leader who is also manager of a vital literacy programme of the district education department, told Killid that Iranian officials and people have visited Indian authorities in the area. “(Afghan) Security officials are well aware of this,” he said.
Representatives of Herat in parliament say the government is to blame for not pushing for completion. Ahmad Behzad, MP, was blunt. “Considering the fact that interests of Iran and Afghanistan are against each other in this project, the Afghan government should have prevented the employment of Iranian engineers even by an Indian company.”
