Qosh Tapa canal to be funded by coal revenue

KABUL (TOLOnews): Authorities in the National Development Company (NDC) say that the revenue obtained from the Balkhab District’s coal in Sar-e-pul province is being spent on the construction of the Qosh Tapa canal.
Abdul Rahman Attash, CEO of NDC, says that after the responsibility of the Balkhab District’s coal mine was entrusted to this company, the extraction by the public has been prohibited. The Balkhab District of Sar-e-pul, which is covered with mountains and valleys, has abundant and high-quality coal mines.
Until last year, the mines of the Balkhab basin were being extracted by residents and were at risk of collapsing; however, after the responsibility of the extraction of this mine was entrusted to the NDC by the Islamic Emirate, any kind of mining by the people has been prohibited.
At the same time, several Balkhab residents complain about unemployment and lack of health utilities and ask the authorities to address their problem.
“The extraction of mines has stopped, unemployment has increased and even people go abroad,” Mirza Hasan, a resident of Balkhab, told TOLOnews.
Abdul Rahman Attash, CEO of the National Development Company, said that efforts to expand the exploration, extraction, and loading of the Balkhab coal mine continue and in the future, most professional workers from this district will be employed for the extraction of coal.
Abdul Rahman Attash also said that a road construction project is ongoing in several parts of Balkhab by the NDC and in this project some of the residents of the Balkhab have been appointed.
“Inshallah, the work of the people will start in the near future, which will be legal and also will continue technically on the standards of the mines,” he added.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Finance emphasized that a part of the Islamic Emirate’s budget is provided from the extraction and export of coal.
“We have exported 1.6 million tons worth 22 billion coal to Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, and Germany in 2023,” said Ahmad Wali Haqmal, the spokesman of the Ministry of Finance.
“Our coal has a belt that starts from Badakhshan and ends in Herat, and the length of this belt is more than seven hundred kilometers, said Shahabuddin Delawar, the Minister of Mines and Petroleum.
The Balkhab district in Sar-e-pul province has over 130,000 inhabitants and most of them are busy with gardening and livestock.
Based on the latest information, there are one and a half billion tons of coal in the mountains of Balkhab in Sar-e-pul district.