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The Challenges to Nation-Building
in Afghanistan continues...
Afghanistan has a high-energy potential, both hydro power and natural gas, in production. Afghanistan is well endowed with natural gas, coal, and hydropower, with known gas reserves of about 120 billion cubic meters and a possible 1,000 billion cubic meters more at a deeper level.
Large oil and gas reserves are present in Afghanistan, mainly in the northern part of the country. Besides oil and natural gas, Afghanistan also is estimated to have 73 million tons of coal reserves. Despite these reserves, gas availability is grossly inadequate to meet needs, mainly due to
the loss of production facilities and the high rate of leakages.
Petroleum products such as diesel, gasoline, and jet fuel are imported,
mainly from Pakistan and Uzbekistan, with limited volumes from Turkmenistan and Iran serving regional markets. Hydro power plays the main roles for energy supply to Kabul, but after years of war, only a small
percentage of the population has access to the power grid. More than 85 percent of Afghanistan’s energy needs are met by traditional fuels, but this has led to serious deforestation in the country. Afghanistan’s power grid has been severely damaged by years of war, and less than 10 percent of its population currently has access to electricity, with Kabul suffering power
shortages. Three hydro-electric power dams provide baseload power to Kabul: the 100 MW Naghlu dam, the 66-MW Mahi Par dam, and the 22-MW Sarobi dam, with the latter two facilities slated to be rehabilitated by 2005. Electricity generation is both hydro and diesel based and was operating at a fraction of the previous capacity. The restoration of the generation, transmission, and distribution systems was urgently required.
Telecommunications systems have been largely destroyed. Instead of fixed
lines there was a need to establish a network of satellite based communications for national and international calls, augmented by a cell phone system with pre-paid cards for local calls. These require private sector opportunities, but need appropriate policy and regulatory frameworks.
To be continued....