Donors Not Financing Power Dam Infrastructure: DABS Chief

AVA- International donors are not providing aid to the projects relating to the hydropower dam infrastructure in the country, said Amanullah Ghalib, chairman Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat (DABS) on Sunday.

They do, however, provide financial assistance to Afghanistan for imported electricity, he said.

Responding to questions at the session of the Senate on Sunday, Ghalib said that over two hundred electricity who do not pay their bills have beaten or threatened DABS employees tried to cut their power lines.

Ghalib alleged that some of the members of the national assembly and politicians are trying to put pressure on the DABS to provide them with 24 hours electricity daily.

“Electricity was cut to all for a week or ten days. No one had electricity, but I faced a lot of pressure from the members of both houses of the parliament, finally it was agreed to formulate a new plan,” said Ghalib.

The DABS chief was summoned to the Senate on Sunday to respond to questions of the senators about corruption in the body, the growing number hours of load-shedding and the unequal distribution of electricity.

“The collection of electricity bills by the Taliban is one of the funding sources of the armed opponents. The continuation of this trend is destructive,” said another senator Abdullah Qarloq.

“There are 24 hours of electricity in the face of difficult situations, but in other areas, there is no electricity for 8 to 9 hours,” said another senator, Nisar Haris.

Although DABS chief did not reject allegations of corruption in his organization, he pledged to take serious action against graft.

He said that over 200 institutions, including the national assembly, have not paid their electricity bills of about 10 billion Afs.