According to Afghan media reports, 30 kilometers of electric lines will be replaced, and electricity distribution, and measurement systems will be installed. The work will be done by the Afghan Breshna Corporation, which operates and manages electric power generation, import, transmission, and distribution throughout Afghanistan on a commercial basis. The work is expected to be completed in two years.

This project will not only make life much easier for the residents of this Helmandi district, but it will also create hundreds of jobs, said Omar Zakhilwal, Afghanistan’s Minister of Finance.

Last week, Afghanistan’s Bakhtar News Agency reported that a new building for a middle school in the Doulatabad district of Faryab province was inaugurated. According to Afghan education ministry officials, the new building took one year to build, and it has seven classrooms, 4 administrative rooms, as well as other educational facilities.

Today, Pajhwok Afghan News (PAN) reported that a 300 meters long and 10 meters wide bridge was inaugurated in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Kunar. The bridge is on the Kunar River in the Sawaki district. The bridge was built at a cost of $4.5 million; the funding for the project came from the United States. The bridge took 3 years to build, according to the PAN report.

Wahidullah Shahrani, Afghan Minister of Mines

Afghanistan signed a major oil exploration contract with a Chinese company (China National Petroleum Corp) today in Kabul.

The deal will develop three oil fields in northern Afghanistan (Sar-e-pul and Faryab provinces). Wahidullah Shahrani, Afghanistan’s Minister of Mines, told the media that the deal could bring in about $7 billion to Afghanistan over the next 25 years.

The minister said that the Chinese will start to bring in their experts and equipment to the site in a month, however, the practice work (extraction) is expected to begin in October 2012.

Meanwhile in the southwestern province of Nimroz, construction work has begun on the Kamal Khan Dam, according to a report today from Pajhwok Afghan News (PAN). According to PAN, the dam is being constructed over the Helmand river. Nearly 40,000 acres of land would come under irrigation and 8.5 megawatts of electricity would be produced with the completion of the project, a government official told PAN.

Afghanistan's National Cricket Team With Their Trophy

Afghanistan took on Hong Kong, and defeated them by 8 runs in the final match of the 2011 Asian Cricket Council (ACC) Twenty20 Cup. This is the second time that Afghanistan has won this tournament. After winning the coin toss, Afghanistan chose to bat first. They scored 125 runs losing all wickets in 19.5 overs. Hong Kong was kept at 117 runs in 19.2 overs. The highest runs for the Afghan side came from Gulbodin Naib with 57 followed by Mohammad Nabi with 24. The man of the match honors went to star bowler Hamid Hassan. Afghan coach Dawlat Ahmadzai told reporters that “It’s a big day for Afghanistan, as we defended our title.” The match was played in Tribhuvan University, located in Nepal.

According to Afghan media reports, the money will be given to Afghanistan’s Ministry of Energy and Water. The head of the ministry, Mohammad Ismael Khan, told reporters that $10 million will be spent in Kabul in order to provide more people with clean drinking water and electricity. Khan said that a hydro power dam will be constructed in the Shakardara valley. Khan also added that the remaining $7 million will be spent in Afghanistan’s central Bamiyan province. The money will be used to construct small dams in order to produce electricity and small water canals to boost agriculture in the province.

Meanwhile, in neighboring Nangarhar province, Pajhwok Afghan News (PAN) reported today that the foundation stone for a police logistics center has been laid. The center will be built at a cost of $20 million on 30 acres of land, an official told PAN. Funding for the project is being provided by the United States. Per the report, the center will have 50 buildings, and they will “facilitate logistic supplies to Afghan National Police (ANA) and Afghan Border Police (ABP) in Nangarhar, Laghman, Kunar and Nuristan provinces”. The project is part of an overall greater project to hand off security responsibilities to the Afghans themselves.

Mohibur Rahman Momand, the Nangarhar Water and Energy Director announced at a press conference on Tuesday that sixty percent of the work on the Ghochako substation, in Surkhrod district, has already been completed. According to the PAN report, he also stated that the remaining forty percent of the work will be completed by December, and that transmission lines will be extended from Kherokhel to Jalalabad. Momand also said that there has been an increase of six megawatts in the capacity to produce power at the Daronta Dam, which supplies electricity to the residents of Jalalabad, from 9pm to 11pm.

Finally, the report added that the Laghman Power Department Manager said electricity will be supplied 24 hours a day to all the villages of Qarghayee district and Mehtarlam thanks to the installation of 13 new transformers.

Meanwhile in neighboring Baghlan province, construction work on a retaining wall on the embankment of the Kuhna Darya river was recently completed, according to a report yesterday from the Bakhtar News Agency. The wall was built at a cost of $25,000. The wall will protect homes near the river from being flooded due to seasonal water rises.

In other development news in the province, yesterday PAN reported that construction work on a new sports stadium in Gardez has been completed. The reported said that the project took one year to complete at a cost of $700,000. The stadium can hold 1500 spectators, and it will be used to hold various different sporting events, according to provincial Olympic committee head, Mohammad Amin Alamyar.