Qushtipa Canal, a Concrete Step Towards Self-sufficient Afghanistan

Afghanistan has been deprived of development projects for the past four decades due to internal conflicts, external conspiracies and aggression by invading forces.

Afghanistan is still not self-sufficient in the basic food items “flour, ghee and clean drinking water”.

The influx of flooding cash aid during the two decades of aggression so unnerved the rulers that they did not even think about the country’s prosperity and the country’s well-being and forgot everything in the love of the dollar.

The system itself was like foam on the water whose administration was not in its power because it was based on the crutch of the American occupation coalition, that was not a representative administration of the Afghan nation.

Therefore the Afghan people supported the Islamic Emirate for challenging the so-called democratic system.

According to the estimates of the Western aggressors, it seemed that the arrival of the present Islamic system and the withdrawal of foreign forces would destroy everything and that the Islamic system would fall into isolation and decline as the previous democratic system collapsed.

Then foreigners will get an opportunity to interfere and exploit and Afghanistan will face another disaster For the purpose, the US aggressors and their allies opened the doors of their countries to Afghans, using propaganda to force them to leave Afghanistan and migrate abroad and this series is still ongoing.

On a daily basis, propaganda on social media encourages many young Afghans to incite against the system and force it to react and use it as a tool to push the current system out.

Accepting all these conspiracies as a challenge, the present Islamic government also started various projects for the welfare and development of its citizens, ensured peace and order for its citizens, and at the national level, such as Qushtipa Canal. Initiated major projects rarely seen in the entire history of Afghanistan. For the first time it sanctioned the budget from internal revenue and the cost of all the projects was met from the same internal budget which ensures a better future for the people.

The Qushtipa Canal is not a trivial project nor can it be completed with a normal budget, but the completion of the project requires a ground-breaking work and extraordinary determination.

Concluding the comment I will come to the recent progress of the Qushtipa Canal and the verdict of the people!

 

Area of ​​Qushtipa Canal:

 

According to the current design of Qushtipa Canal, it is 285 km long, 100 meters wide and 8.5 meters deep, starting from Kaldar district of Balkh province and passing through the deserts of Haridran, Dawlatabad and Balkh districts, Jawzjan, Faizabad, Aqchi and others and passes through many areas and eventually it can irrigate about 30 lakh acres of agricultural land of Faryab and Andakhoi districts Aas well.

 

Requirement of Qushtipa Canal:

 

The canal has a capacity to transfer 650 cubic meters of water per second with a height of 6.5 meters and a capacity of 10 billion cubic meters of water in a year.

 

Qushtipa Canal Annual Budget:

 

The Islamic Emirate has initially prepared a budget of six billion AFN for the year 2022/23.

 

Important features of Qushtipa Canal:

 

The Qushtipa Canal to be completed in six years also has other minor canals and sub-projects to irrigate areas of Balkh province.

The completion of this big project will not only bring a great revolution and change in the field of agriculture, grains and other agricultural products in the country, but also the completion of this project will make the country self-sufficient in grains and agricultural products and we will also export grains. will Apart from agriculture, the canal will also contribute to the stability and environmental protection of the region and even contribute to climate change and transparency.

Afghanistan is one of the countries rich in water resources. But unfortunately the water of our country is wasted without any use. We will take concrete steps in water management at the country level, God willing, the technical team is working on practical projects in this regard.

 

Phases of Qushtipa Canal:

 

The Qushtipa Canal has three stages, the first stage is 108 km long, it starts from Amu river and reaches Dawlatabad district of Balkh province.

The length of the second phase is 177 km starting from Dawlatabad in Balkh, passing through Aqchi district in Jawzjan province to Andkhoi district in Faryab province.

The third step is the distribution of sub-canals on agricultural land.

The project will be completed in six years, with one year for completion of the first phase and five years for the remaining two phases.

The canal apart from irrigating agricultural lands, we will also have agricultural farms which will provide land, housing and employment to millions of people.

Afghanistan country will move towards self-sufficiency, it will no longer need foreign aid, and Afghanistan will be among the most important grain exporters in the region, God willing.

 

Canal Status and Recent Developments:

 

Work is currently underway on the first phase of the 108-km long Qushtipa Canal project at 104 points from Kaldar district to Dawlatabad.

3200 employees are working on the said project with 2250 machines in the field. So far 22 km of canal work has been completed through which 33 million cubic meters of soil has been moved. At present, the work of diverting the water of Amu River along with 250 meters of water dam at zero point on the banks of Amu is in progress.

Construction of two bridges along the Haritaran road, one of which is for the Haritaran to Mazar-e-Sharif transit road.

It flows in two points and 400,000 cubic meters of soil is extracted from it every day. We are excavating 100,000 cubic meters of soil more than our daily plan. With the help of Allah we will complete this project before the scheduled time. We pay an average of over 30 million Afghani to investment companies daily.

The overall pace of the project is estimated at 30 percent, which shows the commitment of the leadership of the Islamic Emirate.

By:Zabaihullah Noorani