Salma Dam
| Salma Dam | |
|---|---|
 Location of Salma Dam in Afghanistan
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| Official name | Afghan-India Friendship Dam |
| Country | Afghanistan |
| Location | Chishti Sharif District, Herat Province |
| Coordinates | 34°19′51″N 63°49′31″E / 34.33083°N 63.82528°ECoordinates: 34°19′51″N 63°49′31″E / 34.33083°N 63.82528°E |
| Status | Completed |
| Construction began | 1976 |
| Opening date | 4 June 2016 |
| Construction cost | US$ 290 million |
| Operator(s) | WAPCOS |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Type of dam | Embankment, earth and rock-fill |
| Impounds | Hari River |
| Height | 107.5 m (353 ft) |
| Length | 551 m (1,808 ft) |
| Reservoir | |
| Active capacity | 560×106 m3 (453,999 acre·ft) |
| Inactive capacity | 633×106 m3 (513,181 acre·ft) |
| Catchment area | 11,700 km2 (4,500 sq mi) |
| Power station | |
| Turbines | 3 × 14 MW |
| Installed capacity | 42 MW |
| Annual generation | 86.6 GWh |
Salma Dam, officially the Afghan-India Friendship Dam, is a hydroelectric and irrigation dam project located on the Hari River in Chishti Sharif District of Herat Province in western Afghanistan. The Afghan cabinet renamed the Salma Dam to the Afghan-India Friendship Dam in a move to strengthen relations between the two countries.
The hydroelectric plant produces 42 MW of power in addition to providing irrigation for 75,000 hectares of farmland (stabilising the existing irrigation of 35,000 hectares and development of irrigation facilities to an additional 40,000 hectares of land).
The dam was opened on 4 June 2016 by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
Feasibility reports for the construction of a dam in Chesti-e-Sharif district were prepared in 1957. In 1976, an Afghan firm was tasked with construction of the dam. The firm appointed Water and Power Consultancy Services (India) Ltd (WAPCOS), a company owned by the Indian Ministry of Water Resources, to construct the dam. The 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan halted work on the project.
WAPCOS Ltd attempted to continue construction on the dam in 1988, but the project was left incomplete again due to the ongoing instability caused by the civil war. In 2006, India committed to funding the completion of the Salma Dam at an estimated cost of US$ 275 million.
In January 2013, the Indian cabinet approved revised cost of ₹ 1,457 crores (US$ 273.3 million) for the completion of the project and declared it would be completed in December 2014, or two years behind the previous schedule. On 26 July 2015 the dam began to impound its reservoir.
The dam was inaugurated on 4 June 2016 by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
Indian Public sector power equipment manufacturer BHEL played an instrumental role in execution of this project by successfully commissioning two 14MW units in Salma Dam (renamed as Afghan-India Friendship Dam) project.
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Wikipedia