Prime Minister Narendra Modi jointly inaugurated the
Afghan-India Friendship Dam (Salma Dam) with President of Afghanistan Dr.
Ashraf Ghani at Chist-e-Sharif in Herat province in Western Afghanistan today.
This Afghan-India Friendship Dam is a multipurpose project
planned for generating 42 MW of power, irrigating 75000 hectares of land, water
supply and other benefits to the people of Afghanistan. The gross capacity of
the Dam is 633 Million M3. The height of the Dam is 104.3 Mt, length 540 Mt and
width at the bottom is 450 Mt.
The Salma Dam, costing Rs.1775 crore, is considered as landmark
infrastructure project undertaken by Indian government on river Hari Rud, in
Herat province of Afghanistan. The project which took over 10 years to complete
was executed and implemented by WAPCOS Ltd., a Government of India Undertaking
under Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation.
The project is located 165 km east of Herat town and connected
with earthen road. Due to security reasons Indian engineers and technicians
involved with the project have been reaching the site once in a month by
helicopter service provided by Afghanistan government. All equipment and
material were transported from India to Bander-e-Abbas port of Iran via sea and
then along 1200 km by road from there to Islam Kila border post at
Iran-Aghanistan border and then further 300 km by road from the border post to
the site. Cement, steel reinforcement, explosives etc. were imported to
Afghanistan from neighboring countries.
PM Modi in his address after the
inauguration said, “This dam has not been built by bricks and mortar, but by
the faith of our friendship and the valour of Afghans and Indians. And, at this
moment of pride, we also stand in grief and gratitude for lives sacrificed so
that Afghan people will have a future they so richly deserve and so deeply
desire.
Together, our partnership has
built schools, health centres and irrigation facilities for rural communities.
It has empowered women with skills and the youth with the education to shoulder
the responsibility for Afghanistan’s future. We have joined hands to build
roads that bridge the distances of your country, from Zaranj to Delaram, and
transmission lines that bring power to your homes. Now, India’s investment in
the port at Chahbahar in Iran will give Afghanistan a new route to the world
and a new path to prosperity”, he added.
The brave Afghan people are sending a strong message that the forces of destruction & death, denial and domination, shall not prevail.— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) June 4, 2016
On this occasion, PM Narendra Modi was awarded the Amir Amanullah Khan Award, Afghanistan's highest civilian honour by Dr. Ashraf Ghani.
A true brotherhood is honoured. PM is awarded the Amir Amanullah Khan Award, Afghanistan's highest civilian honour pic.twitter.com/DdvASFSF62— Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 4, 2016
No comments:
Post a Comment