As part of a goodwill project, India has nearly completed the Salma Multipurpose Dam, in the Herat province of Afghanistan. The dam will be commissioned next year, after a decade of construction work (begun in January 2006).
The Dam is expected to bring 2 MW power to Afghanistan, besides having the facility to irrigate 75,000 ha of land. Built at a cost of Rs 1,400 crores, across the Harirud River at Chist-e-Shariff in the Herat province of Afghanistan, the dam is 107 metres high, 550 metres long and 500 metres wide, and has 633 million cubic metres of water capacity.
The reservoir started to fill up 10 days ago to the excitement of all and the Indian government is expected to hand over the dam to the Afghan government soon, after which the latter will take care of its maintenance.
The materials needed were transported to Afghanistan through Iran and both Afghan and Indian workers were employed for construction say reports on the event.
Expressing their gratitude some Afghans displayed a 100 meter India-Afghan friendship flag and gave their token of thanks.
