Darunta Dam


The Darunta Dam is a hydroelectric power dam located on the Kabul River near Darunta, approximately 7 km west of Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar Province in eastern Afghanistan.
Darunta Dam was constructed by Soviet Union companies in 1964 and its power station contains three vertical Kaplan turbines with a rated output of 3.85 MW each. Originally, the dam supplied 40 to 45 megawatts of electrical power but silting and damage to the system during the Afghan civil war has reduced its actual output to 11.5 megawatts. The war in 1992 severely damaged Darunta dam. The plant is currently in very poor condition and requires major rehabilitation including possible replacement of all three turbines.
ANHAM was contracted by USAID to perform the rehabilitation of the Darunta Hydroelectric Power Plant. Rehabilitation is in progress and expected completion date was 31 January 2012. On 4 March 2013 Wadsam reported that USAID suspended aid to the project due to the failure of Governor Gul Agha Sherzai in fulfilling his promise to finance 10% of the total cost of the US$11mn project.