June 17, 2008

Canada will spend $120 million to build Afghanistan’s Dahla dam

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan

The Conservative government plans to make the refurbishment and expansion of a dam bordering a sapphire-coloured lake in northern Kandahar the jewel of Canada’s development effort in the war-torn region.

Roughly $120 million is expected to be poured into the Dahla dam, in northern Arghandab district, over the next nine years, said political and defence sources, who asked not to be named.

Other international partners, including USAID, could also contribute to the project, Afghan sources added.

The intent would be to help improve irrigation all along the Arghandab River Valley, a semi-lush concourse that weaves its way across the parched moonscape of southern Afghanistan.

Officials with the Canadian International Development Agency visited the dam in late March to inspect it.

And defence sources say consideration is being given to expanding its potential for hydro generation, something that would ease the electricity shortage throughout the province.

The dam has three generating stations right now that are barely functional.

The idea of a signature development project was one of the pillars of the Manley commission report on the future of Canada’s Afghan mission.

Political sources in Ottawa say there will be another signature project, but not of the bricks and mortar kind. Rather, the Conservative government also intends to pour money into eradicating polio in Afghanistan.

Asked in a recent interview about the signature projects, Canada’s representative in Kandahar, Elissa Golberg, wouldn’t comment, except to say news was coming “very soon.”

Donor countries involved in Afghanistan, including Canada, are meeting in Paris on Thursday where they intend to map the way ahead on aid and development.

Restoring the dam would be a lasting, visible contribution to rebuilding a region once considered one of southern Afghanistan agricultural heartlands.

Three decades of war, particularly the brutal Soviet occupation of the 1980s, left the centuries-old complex web of irrigation networks and canals in both Kandahar and nearby Helmand province in ruins.

As they withdrew, the Russian carried out a deliberate campaign to wreck the waterway system.

One of the first development initiatives undertaken by the Canadians was to see local waterways and aqueducts cleared of debris and reopened.

Haji Mohammad Qasim, a provincial councillor and a member of the Kandahar Industrial Association, says local officials have been lobbying the government of President Hamid Karzai to make the restoration of the dam a priority.

“The Dahla dam is very important,” he said in a recent interview.

“We discussed it with Canadian (ambassador) Arif Lalani.”

Constructed in the 1950s by the Americans, the Dahla dam is supposed to feed water to seven districts in the province, covering 40,000 hectares of farmland.

There are also three small power generating facilities, but because of silt buildup at the gates and problems with hydraulic power, the hydro section barely functions even though the international community, through the United Nations, describes the dam as operational.

Silting also has contributed to a drastic decline in the amount of water that flows out for irrigation purposes.

Canadian military engineers, speaking on background, say bridges and roads leading to the site would have to be improved before any work is carried out on the dam.

The Taliban might also decide to make the project a strategic target, in much the same way they’ve repeatedly attacked the Kajaki dam in Helmand province.

The British have fought pitched battles over two years to secure the area around the dam, which only has one of three turbines operating. NATO hopes to have the Kajaki dam at full power some time later this year.

Recognizing the military significance, Canada has already established important fortified outposts in the region.

But military officials downplayed the threat, saying efforts to get the locals to buy in are showing signs of success and area power brokers are willing to provide “security,” which in this country means an armed militia.

Canadian Press

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