Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting Afghanistan to formally inaugurate the Salma Dam near heart, built with Indian assistance.
While officials are reluctant to confirm the trip, it’s believed Modi will stop over in Afghanistan on his way to the US in early June.
Afghan Water and Energy Minister Eng. Ali Ahmad Osmani said last year that the Salma Dam construction project is complete and that the dam is already 40 percent full.
Modi will not go to Kabul, but in the week following the likely visit, India, Iran and Afghanistan will meet to discuss a trilateral agreement on the Chahbahar port in Iran.
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.
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. In 2006, India committed to funding the completion of the Salma Dam[ at an estimated cost of $275 million. Once completed, the hydroelectric plant would produce 42 MW of power in addition to providing irrigation for 75,000 hectares of farmland (stabilizing the existing irrigation of 35,000 hectares and development of irrigation facilities to an additional 40,000 hectares of land).
In January 2013, the Indian cabinet approved revised cost of INR 1,457 crores (US$ 273.3 million) for the completion of the project and declared it would be completed in December 2014, or 2 years behind the previous schedule.[
On 26 July 2015 the dam began to impound its reservoir.
Meanwhile security officials from Salma Dam blame neighboring countries for destabilizing the area. They say neighbors are trying to stop the dam from being used.
