Salma Dam - India's commitment to Afghanistan Development

Salma Dam is an under construction hydroelectric and irrigation dam project located on the Hari River in Chishti sharif District of Herat Province in western Afghanistan.

• The Salma Dam on the Hira Rud river near Chisht-e-Sharief in the Herat province of Afghanistan will be constructed by the Water and Power Consultancy Services (India) Limited (Wapcos), within two years at a revised cost of Rs 1,457 crore
• Salma dam was originally constructed in 1976 on the Hari river basin, but was damaged early during the Civil war in Afghanistan.
•  The reconstruction of the dam was first initiated by an Indian company (WAPCOS Ltd.) in 1988, but the project was left incomplete for a significant period of time due to the ongoing instability caused by the civil war.
• Started again in 2006, India committed to funding the completion of the Salma Dam at an estimated cost of $200 million.
•  Once completed, the hydroelectric plant would produce 42 megawatts of power in addition to providing irrigation for 75,000 hectares of farmland (stabilizing the existing irrigation of 35,000 hectares and development of irrigation facilities to an additional 40,000 hectares of land).
• India has already announced an additional outlay of $500 million for various projects taking its total development commitment to Afghanistan at $2 billion.