Officials from the Afghan power supply company Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherka (DABS) on Wednesday said that within one month work on the 4th turbine at Naghlo power dam will be complete and that the dam’s power generating capacity will increase to 100 megawatts. 
 
DABS said that a Russian company, Entarow, is helping to repair the badly damaged turbines and that repair work will soon start on the third turbine. 
 
Meanwhile World Bank (WB) officials who fund the project has expressed satisfaction over the progress made on the project. The work on the project started in 2012. 
 
World Bank officials described the renovation of the turbines as a great achievement for expanding Afghanistan’s power infrastructure. 
 
According to World Bank officials, once the project is complete, 40 villages will be provided with electricity in Surobi district of Kabul and Kapisa province. 
 
Currently Naghlo dam has the capacity of generating 75 megawatts of power. 
 
“The turbine which was renovated and then put into operation was totally damaged, we renovated it completely, but some parts of another turbine had problems, we have purchased these parts from Moscow,” said DABS spokesman Wahidullah Waisi. 
 
Meanwhile economic experts have said that government must develop the power infrastructure in the country in order to end Afghanistan’s reliance on imported electricity. 
 
“With four turbines we will be able to generate 100 megawatts and this is a step forward towards sustainable energy generation. This will largely meet the needs of Kabul for power,” said economic analyst Sayed Massoud. 
 
According to DABS, Afghanistan has the capacity to produce 125,000 megawatts of thermal and hydro power, but currently produces only 20 percent of this in hydro power.
 
Afghanistan needs 7,000 megawatts of power and currently Naghlo Dam in Surobi district of Kabul produces 75 megawatts, Salma Dam in Herat province produces 40 megawatts and Kajaki Dam in Helmand province produces 51 megawatts. But plans are in place for Bagh Dara Dam in Kapisa and Parwan dam to produce an additional 280 megawatts of power over the next five years.
 
World Bank (WB) is providing $6.6 million in aid to the Afghan government to reconstruct the turbines at Naghlo dam. The contract for the reconstruction project was signed with a Russian company.