Page 61 - Demo Faces

The Dahla Dam reservoir, 35 kilometers northwest of Kandahar in Afghanistan, controls irregular and short-duration snowmelt ow from the Hindu Kush mountains, but 40% of its storage capacity is lost because of siltation. This severely constrains the dam’s ability to regulate downstream ow, leading to a signi cant reduction in irrigated cropped area. Only 47% of usable land is regularly irrigated, groundwater for urban areas has declined, and power shortages are chronic.
This complex problem, in a fragile and con ict-a ected setting, demanded a creative, integrated, and comprehensive solution to meet the needs of rural and urban communities. ADB designed the entire project to increase the dam’s water storage capacity by raising its height; increase the reliability of irrigation water supplies; improve agriculture water productivity with on-farm support to farmers; and strengthen the institutions that manage the region’s water resources, urban water supply for Kandahar, and hydropower development. ADB, with co nancing from the International Fund for Agricultural Development, nanced most of these components. The
urban water supply component was co nanced by the World Bank, and the hydropower component will be nanced by the private sector through a public–private partnership structure. To strengthen capacity, the project will fund 120 students at the Kabul Polytechnic University (KPU) to undertake a part- time master’s degree program using an international syllabus, supported by a capacity development program for the KPU teaching sta .
Find out more:
Afghanistan: Arghandab Integrated Water Resources Development Project
“To manage implementation risks, a single entity for project implementation support was preferred, so we used a novel approach with an engineering, procurement, and construction supervision consultant contract. The project has a high level of integration between the irrigation and agriculture productivity investments.”
Hans Woldring
Principal Water Resources Specialist, Central and West Asia Department
61
Technology