A Canadian legacy still under construction
Dahla Dam not functional until 2017
SHAH WALI KOT, Afghanistan — It is one of Canada’s main legacies in Afghanistan, meant to bring prosperity and jobs and win the hearts and minds of the Afghans in Kandahar province. And it still isn’t fully functioning.
Situated around 35 kilometres north of Kandahar City, the massive Dahla Dam has been visited by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who highlighted it as one of his government’s “signature projects” in this destitute South Asian country.
When Canada’s diplomats, development specialists and soldiers left Kandahar in 2011, our involvement with the dam ended and the government declared the $50-million project a success. But even now, water doesn’t reach 30 per cent of the 500 kilometres of canals that Canada paid to refurbish, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. That’s because the dam itself is not expected to be fully functional until at least 2017.
Afghan farmers told Canadian government officials 13 years ago that for the silt-clogged dam to work, it would have to be raised so more water could be trapped in the reservoir. Better yet, they said, build a new dam.
The job of raising the dam now falls to the U.S. government, at a cost of $150 million to $250 million.
Some Afghans blame the Canadians for not doing it, although that was never the publicly stated goal of the project. Others say much of the Canadian funding was wasted since it went to pay for security or high-priced foreign contractors rather than Afghan labourers.
The Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada won’t detail how the money was spent because it has to protect the commercial privacy of the firms involved. SNC-Lavalin, the main contractor, also won’t release a breakdown.
Accounting and accountability aside, Canadian diplomats and military officers say the work on the dam has been a resounding success. They say it provides water for farmers to irrigate large tracts of land, allowing them to grow crops such as pomegranates. If people can make a living, Canadian officials say, support for the insurgents is undercut.
Postmedia News recently visited the dam, but at the insistence of the Kandahar governor’s office travelled with seven heavily armed bodyguards for protection against the Taliban as well as rogue police officers who might harass foreign journalists for bribes. Contractors paid for by the U.S. government were working on fixing equipment at the site’s intake tower. Water at the base of the dam’s earthen wall was thick with brown sludge from the buildup of silt.
Lt.-Gen. Stuart Beare, whose command oversees domestic and military missions, was in Kabul in November and was briefed by Canadian diplomats.
“The update I got was the investment made has had a huge positive impact already, agriculturally, water management, the whole nine yards,” he said. “Notwithstanding that it may not be at a particular end state or end date, the investment has paid out and it continues to pay out.”
Foreign Affairs says the project created 5,000 seasonal jobs, although some Kandahar residents doubt that actually happened. They suggest much of the money instead went to well-connected Afghans and high-priced foreign contractors.
An estimated $10 million of the $50 million was spent on security, with an undisclosed amount paid to Watan Risk Management, a controversial firm providing for-hire gunmen and run by two Afghan men, Rashid and Rateb Popal.
Both have been convicted of drug-related crimes, and Rateb has also been accused by a U.S. congressman of once being an interpreter for the Taliban.
Numerous reports have said the men are related to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, but a lawyer for the two denies that. The U.S. military tried to blacklist Watan after allegations that bribes may have been paid to the Taliban; the firm has denied any wrongdoing.
U.S. diplomats in Afghanistan, however, did raise concerns in 2009 about the Dahla Dam project, alleging that it was being used by the Karzai family to consolidate its power in the region and to reward friends. They also noted the Watan connection to the project.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul was so concerned that it sent a confidential cable to Washington, later obtained by WikiLeaks, that highlighted the involvement of Ahmed Wali Karzai — or AWK — the president’s younger brother. The cable also highlighted the role of Watan’s Rashid Popal, who the diplomats said was AWK’s cousin.
AWK, described by the Americans as “widely unpopular” in Kandahar for the way he wielded his power, successfully lobbied Canada on behalf of the Watan security company, the cable added.
Another 2009 report from the U.S. Embassy in Kabul noted that the Canadians were worried about Ahmed Wali Karzai and his suspected ties to the illegal drug trade.
AWK was assassinated in 2011 by his bodyguard, and while the Taliban took credit, some suggest the killing may have been linked to his criminal activities.
Romel Punsalan, who oversees work on the Dahla Dam for the U.S. army Corps of Engineers, is aware of some of the controversy surrounding the dam, but is more focused on trying to get it to full capacity. Workers are fixing valves and the intake tower and are expected to be done by early 2015.
After that, the Americans plan to raise the height of the dam by five metres. That should improve the volume of water and deal with the silt that has built up over the last 60 years. It should also allow the irrigation ditches cleaned under the Canadian program to be fully utilized.
Punsalan hopes work on that phase will start this summer and be completed by 2017. But he doesn’t know how it might be affected by the U.S. military pullout from Afghanistan.
“I’m not sure what will happen,” he said from Kabul. “All I’m directed to do is continue planning and moving forward.”