Electricity to be bought with prepaid cards

KABUL (Tolo News): Two South Korea-funded power projects, made with the cooperation of the United Nation’s Development Program (UNDP) in the Dara-e-Noor district of eastern Nangarhar province will generate electricity for local villages. One of the projects will allow residents to buy electricity for their homes by using prepaid cards.

The two projects were sponsored by South Korea, which provided $4 million for both a solar power project with the capacity of generating 340 kilowatts of power and a hydropower project with the capacity of producing 140 kilowatts. According to officials, one of these projects offers a new system for the first time in the country in which residents of the district can top-up electricity by using prepaid credit cards.
“During the night, we provide electricity to the homes from the batteries that we charge every day,” said Abdul Qadir, head of the Zolerestan company. Officials at the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing said that the power from the two projects can reach the eight villages in the Dara-e-Noor district of Nangarhar province.

“By utilizing the power, we can deliver domestic products to the national and international markets. Also, we can provide electricity for the clinics and schools,” said Popal Habib, deputy minister of Urban Development and Housing. The governor of Nangarhar province, Zia Ul Haq Amarkhail, said that the residents of the district should protect these projects as their own property.

The residents of the Dara-e-Noor district, while expressing happiness over the two projects, still demand the implementation of other development projects in the district. Mohammad Zaher, a resident in Dara-e-Noor district, said: “There are many problems in the district, streets are not asphalted, and there are no jobs for us.”

Dara-e-Noor district is one of the remote areas in eastern Nangarhar province. Last year the necessary development projects were not implemented in the district, residents said.