Afghanistan: Kabul residents complain of power shortage

Kabul [Afghanistan], November 24 : Kabul residents have complained about the increasing power deficit in the capital city, claiming that they are struggling with daily needs due to a lack of sufficient power amid cold weather, according to TOLOnews.
Amid the power shortage, they have urged Da Afghanistan Breshna Shirkat (DABS), the country's power utility, to take the situation seriously and come up with a solution.
"The shops should be provided with power because their activities are affected by a lack of power," said Sultani, a Kabul resident.
Lamenting over the situation, another resident Shir Ahmad, said, "We call on the Islamic Emirate to pay attention to the fair distribution of electricity in Kabul because the people don't have the capability to purchase wood or coal," TOLOnews reported.
Meanwhile, DABS officials stated that the power outage is the result of a drought.
"As you know there was a drought this year, and if it keeps going like this, it may affect the delivery of power but we have a thermal system that will be used for producing electricity in difficult circumstances," said Hekmatullah Maiwandi, a spokesperson for DABS.
A former head of DABS, Amanullah Ghalib, said that more investments are needed in the electricity sector in a bid to prevent such problems.
"We can solve the shortage of power through two ways, first the domestic production should increase and the power dams," he said.
This comes as more than 80 per cent of Afghanistan's electricity is imported from neighbouring countries, particularly Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Iran.
As per the DABS, the import transmission lines for Kabul electricity were made in 2008. They have the capacity to transmit 300 megawatts of power and Kabul requires over 700 megawatts of power.