The lights come on in Kabul

KABUL, Afghanistan — A welcome ray of light has penetrated the general gloom and doom surrounding Afghanistan these days. Several rays, actually: Kabul residents are enjoying unprecedented access to electricity, thanks to a commercial deal with neighboring Uzbekistan.

For the first time since the fall of the Taliban, the majority of homes in the capital are lit throughout the night, allowing the use of televisions, irons, computers, and other accoutrements of modernity that had long been denied to Kabul’s besieged inhabitants.

The project has been in the works for several years. Construction got underway in 2006, when silver pylons began to spring up in the plains north of Kabul. The gleaming metal towers completed their inexorable march towards Hairatan, more than 260 miles away, in late 2008.

Kabulis had all but given up hope. The Minister of Power and Energy, Ismail Khan, has been promising stable electricity “within two or three months” ever since his appointment to his post in late 2004. Much of Afghanistan’s own power comes from hydroelectric stations, which have been crippled due to a long-standing drought. Supplies of electricity would surge with the spring thaw, only to stop abruptly in late summer, when the water ran out.

Most Kabul neighborhoods had no more than four hours of electricity every second evening, and none at all during the day.

But on Jan. 20, 2009, the juice began to flow. The millions of Kabul residents who were watching the inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama live on television were mystified when the lights stayed on well past the usual 10:30 p.m. cut-off, and at first attributed the unusual largess to the new world leader. They were even more astounded when the electricity was still on the next day.

Since then, most Kabul neighborhoods receive between 16 and 20 hours of electricity a day.

Abdul Haq Faqiri, head of public relations for the Ministry of Power and Energy, told journalists that the Afghan government had signed a deal for 70 megawatts of electricity from Uzbekistan. Out of that, 40 megawatts would come to Kabul, with the rest going to the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

With existing supplies, this should be enough to keep the capital alight. But it may be too soon for Kabul’s residents to trade in their wood-burning stoves for electric heaters.

The antiquated infrastructure will simply not support 24-hour electricity for the three to four million inhabitants of the city.

“Even if we have enough power in Kabul, we cannot give people 24-hour electricity,” he said. “The main switch does not have the capacity to carry all of this, and the transformers would be overloaded,” said an engineer at one of Kabul’s switching stations, who spoke speak off the record because the ministry had issued strict instructions that staff were not to talk to the media.

Another problem that may soon present itself to an unwilling population is an expected price increase. The electricity flowing from Uzbekistan will cost more than twice as much as that generated within Afghanistan, and much of that is likely to be passed on to consumers.

Engineer Mohammad Homayun Kohistani, technical adviser to the Ministry of Power and Energy, told journalists that new tariffs had not yet been set.

The ministry staffer, speaking on background, confirmed.

“We will make a decision after the New Year,” he said. The Afghan New Year begins on March 21. “At present we are charging according to the old prices.”

Electricity is fairly cheap in Afghanistan, compared to U.S. prices: residents pay 1.5 afghani (3 cents) per kilowatt hour. Businesses, however, pay a much steeper 15 afghani (30 cents) per kilowatt hour.

New prices could be considerably higher. Some sources inside the ministry estimate that residents may pay up to 5 afghani (10 cents) per kilowatt hour after the New Year, and businesses would pay much more than that.

Many may choose to shortcut the process. Bribery in this sector is rife, hardly surprising in a country ranked 176th out of 180 in Transparency International’s 2008 Corruption Perception Index.

It is quite common for real estate agents to offer prospective renters a “special deal” when they contract for office space. A payment of between $100 and $200 per month will secure the renter 24-hour electricity, and numerous renters have found this to be more convenient and economical than the legal route.

With salaries for even high-ranking staff in the ministry hovering at around $70 a month, the temptation to earn a little extra cash is high.

“This electricity will bring no change in my own life,” said a young man who identified himself as Azizullah Ayaz, a clean-shaven young man in Western dress, who was shopping in a busy downtown street. “I still pay 500 afghani ($10) per week as a bribe to my electrician, and he gives me power.”

Some tenants, of course, use different methods of satisfying their power needs.

“There are at least 15 houses in my neighborhood that belong to warlords,” said the ministry’s engineer. “They do not pay at all, but if you cut their power, they come to your office with guns.”

On Nadir Pashtun Street, in central Kabul, business is booming. Almost every store on the busy thoroughfare sells electrical appliances and sales are going through the roof.

“We have had a 40 percent increase in sales,” said Ahmad Jawed Khairkha, owner of a shop on Nader Pashtun. “We are selling electric heaters, televisions, DVD players, and other appliances.”

His neighbor, Ziaullah, owner of the Naimullah Khotak store, also applauded the change.

“Before this we only sold appliances to parliamentarians and other big bosses,” he said. “Now everybody is buying them.”

(Abaceen Nasimi, a freelance reporter in Kabul, contributed to this report.)

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