Kajaki Dam

Final studies for the dam began in 1946 and a preliminary design was crafted in 1950. The dam was built between 1951 and 1953 by the American Morrison–Knudsen firm as part of the Helmand Valley Authority project.[5][6]

In 1975, USAID commissioned the initial installation of two 16.5 MW generating units in a powerhouse constructed at the toe of the dam. This first stage powerhouse was actually constructed to house three equally sized units. Only units 1 and 3 were installed originally.[6]

Aerial view of Kajaki Dam with its spillway to the right

Before the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the contractors had already left the country.[5] They had intended to raise the dam by 2 m (6 ft 7 in) in order to increase the available water for power production and irrigation. They were also excavating an emergency spillway which was never completed. Gates were also never installed in the service spillway so the dam passes all water in the reservoir above elevation of 1,033.5 m (3,391 ft). Completion of the spillway gates would increase the total storage capacity of the reservoir by 1,010,000,000 m³ (818,820 acre⋅ft) to 2,725,000,000 m³ (2,209,193 acre⋅ft).[6]

The Kajaki dam powerhouse was a bombing target of the US Air Force during their attack on Afghanistan in October 2001.[7]

With funding from USAID, World Bank and other donors, Units 1 and 3 were fully rehabilitated and the power station had an installed capacity of 33 MW.[8] Unit 1 was operational in September 2005 and Unit 3 in October 2009.[9] The Unit 3 rehabilitation began in May 2006, with a scheduled return to service in early 2007. The new 18.5 MW Unit 2 turbine/generator had been contracted to China Machine Building International Corporation, which is headquartered in Beijing. The work was to be supervised by Montgomery Watson Harza and was planned to be completed by June 2007 but the work was not completed.

In February 2007, the Kajakai Dam was the subject of fighting between coalition forces and Taliban insurgents, as part of Operation Kryptonite.[10] According to the governor of Helmand province, Assadullah Wafa, over 700 Taliban insurgents (including Pakistanis, Chechens and Uzbeks) coming from neighboring Pakistan fought against over 300 coalition troops.[11] Most of the coalition troops were Dutch and British. The number of casualties mentioned varies.

Central to the long term energy security and sustained economic growth of southern Afghanistan is the rehabilitation and expansion of the Kajaki hydroelectric power plant. As a critical component of the Southern Electrical Power System, the capacity of the Kajaki plant would be expanded to 51 MW with a future potential for an additional 100 MW.

The Kajaki power station

Inside the Kajaki power station

A series of power lines and substation connected to the Kajaki hydroelectric powerplant.

In late August 2008 a contingent of ISAF and Afghan troops successfully transported the third turbine (Unit 2) from Kandahar to the Kajaki Dam. The operation was British-led and codenamed Operation Oqab Tsuka, meaning "Eagle's Summit" in Pashto.[12]

A BBC report on the unassembled and uninstalled turbine in June 2011 estimated project completion in late 2013.[13] Despite the turbine being delivered onsite in 2008, over 7 years later it had still not been installed, as its installation required 700 tonnes of cement which could not be delivered to the dam due to attacks by the Taliban.[14] The purpose of these projects were to improve distribution of electrical power to the people of Helmand and Kandahar provinces.[15]

In February 2015, USAID anticipated completion in 2016.[16] When the turbine came online, and a new grid of power lines were established to distribute the power, the dam was able to provide 51 megawatts of power.[17] The project reduced reliance on more expensive and dirtier diesel generation, and nearly doubled the amount of renewable energy distributed to Kandahar. The Afghan electric authority assumed full responsibility for operations and maintenance in March 2017.[18]

Under an accord signed between the Imperial State of Iran and the Kingdom of Afghanistan in 1972 or 1973,[19] Afghanistan agreed to release water at a rate of at least 820 cu ft/s (23 m³/s).[20][21] In 1998, Afghanistan briefly stopped the flow of water to Iran, using a canal to divert water of Helmand River southward into the Godzareh Depression. As a result, the Hamun Lake dried up, as did regional pastures, leading to a decline of flora, fauna, cattle and birds in the northern part of the Sistan and Baluchestan Province of Iran.[22] In May 2023 Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi requested from the Kajaki reservoir emergency water for the Sistan and Baluchestan province.[23][24]

Time Series of Water in Lake Hamoun, Iran/Afghanistan

• The American effort to build the dam is mentioned in Adam Curtis's 2015 documentary Bitter Lake.[26] According to the film, the dam caused a salinization of the fields allowing the cultivation of opium.
• Kajaki is a 2014 British war docu-drama film based on the Kajaki Dam incident, involving a small unit of British soldiers positioned near the Kajaki dam.

• Energy in Afghanistan
• List of dams and reservoirs in Afghanistan
• List of rivers of Afghanistan

 This article incorporates public domain material from Corps of Engineers to improve access to water, power in southern Afghanistan. United States Army.

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• USAID documents related to or mentioning Kajaki Dam