Power shortage in the main transit route of Afghanistan which is Jalalabad is seen as the main hurdle towards the economic growth of the City.Economic growth needs good amount of factories and factories need good amount of power supply.As we can we have build an industrial state which is the SarShahi industrial state but no body is willing to go and start providing us with quality goods because of the eletricity shortages.About half of the country electricity is produced locally while the rest is exported from other countries.
Jalalabad has only one hydro electric dam which is the Daronta dam which was built by the Russian and Afghan engineers in 1965 and it produces only 14 megawatt electricity which is very low and this electricity is used by Government officials and some 4000 houses.Plans were to connect Jalalabad to Naghlo dam and will provide 36 megawatt of electricity which will some how manage the power shortages But due to the security concerns the plans are on a standby and some officials stating that only a 1000 metre power cable is to be connected to the water dam.
A recent study by the United states agency for industrial development (USAID) and Afghan chamber of commerce and industry stated that there were about 115 factories operating in Jalalabad province which included providing soap,marbles,plastic pipes etc .About 30 factories has been closed and about 600 people left jobless due to electricity shortages.Electric power is like a golden thread which provides econmic growth to a country and Afghanistan needs it as bad as others.People want to work and the government is not providing them with enough support.More than half of the people in Jalalabad uses the fuel powered generators electricty which is very costly and affording is very hard but due to the severe heat in the city is making the people to use the electricity which is run by some private influental people.
Corruption is wide spread among the officials and according to a local official ,electricity was provided to a local official and he had linked his electricity to 60 more houses illegally so as a rough thought ,the ministry are not getting the revenue to maintain the Daronta facility.
Jalalabad is a city where you can get the raw material at cheap prices and you can succesfully run a factory if you are provided with the power supply and can be a boost for local jobseekers.Most of the people are poor and by getting jobs in the factories can be a boosting package for their families.We want to build factories and want to import our quality goods to the rest of the world.
