Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Only 41 percent of Afghanistan’s population has access to electricity, including both on-grid and off-grid, with the average consumption of the country standing at approximately 25kWh/capita per annum or lower in comparison to the world average of 3060 kWh/capita per annum.

Even this low per-capita level of electricity access masks significant urban-rural disparities, as even less than 10% of the supplied electricity reaches rural areas.

To meet the remaining electricity demand, alongside imports, the untapped domestic energy resources of Afghanistan could significantly aid in catering to the energy needs of the Afghan people, if utilized optimally.

Engineer Arshad H. Abbasi, who was speaking to the youth from Pakistan and Afghanistan at Afghan Studies Center’s 17th Pak-Afghan youth dialogue in Islamabad, was of the view that Afghanistan should now move towards employing natural resources as a primary source of energy instead of conventional non-renewable resources.

According to World Bank (WB) statistics, the potential of power generation through hydropower resources in Afghanistan is about 23,310 MW. In the same manner, Afghanistan has even greater potential of power generation through its wind and solar resources.

However, while donors have overstretched their funds to other issues, energy needs have been greatly overlooked. To progress in this direction, there is a need to undertake proper strategies and planning.

Published in Daily Times, October 25^th 2018.