PM Modi to inaugurate Salma Dam built by Indian firm in Afghanistan on Saturday

New Delhi: The Afghan-India Friendship Dam, also known as Salma Dam, to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani in Herat province on Saturday, has been executed and implemented by WAPCOS Ltd, a government of India undertaking under the ministry of water resources.

The dam is a multi-purpose project planned for generating 42 MW of power, irrigating 75,000 hectares of land, water supply and other benefits to the people of Afghanistan.

The Salma Dam is a project undertaken by the government of India on Chist-e-Sharif river in Herat province of Afghanistan.

"The project is located 165 km east of Herat town and connected with earthen road. Due to security reasons, Indian engineers and technicians involved with the project have been reaching the site once in a month by helicopter service provided by the government of Afghanistan," said a ministry of water resources statement.

"All equipment and material were transported from India to Bander-e-Abbas port of Iran via sea and then along 1,200-km by road from there to Islam Kila border post at Iran-Aghanistan border and then further 300 km by road from the border post to the site," it added.

"Cement, steel reinforcement, explosives etc. were imported to Afghanistan from neighbouring countries. The gross capacity of the dam is 633 million M3. The height of the Dam is 104.3 mt, length 540 mt and width at the bottom is 450 mt," read the statement.