Effect of Kamal Khan Dam on Afghanistan’s Economy and Environment

Abstract

Afghanistan is a mountainous country and has about 75 billion cubic meters of fresh water, however, only 67% of its total population has access to drinking water, so the major objective behind constructing Dams is to fulfill the need of people for drinking water and irrigation of crops, which affect the economy of the country and also has effect on the environment directly. Kamal Khan Dam has been built on Helmand river in Chahar Borjak district of Nimroz Province under the consideration of Ab-Gardan (To turn the water flow) and the main objective of this study is to explore the effect of Kamal Khan Dam on the economic, agricultural and environmental aspects of the country. This is a qualitative research, and secondary data has been gathered from various credible and reliable sources to investigate the effect of Kamal Khan Dam on Afghanistan’s Economy and Environment. The results of the study signify that Kamal Khan Dam can generate (9000KW) of electricity per hour, control the water to a maximum level, has the capacity to irrigate 175,000 hectares of land and store 52 million cubic meters of fresh water. The dam is one of the most important projects of the country, which has a great impact on the economic, agricultural and environmental aspects of the country.