According to a report last week, the officials visited Balkh province, bordering Turkmenistan, to examine the progress on the Qosh Tepa Canal.
The Qosh Tepa is an enormous canal building on the Amudarya River, raising the concern of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan due to the potential effect for drawing water and affecting the countries.
The project was inaugurated last year and covered 285 KM, beginning from the Amu River in Balkh Province, passing through Jawzjan, and ending in Faryab.
The project has three phases. The first phase is 108 kilometres, which is expected to be implemented over the next year. The second and third phase, which makes up 177 kilometres, is expected to be completed within five years.
According to officials, the irrigation scheme has a catchment area of 550,000 hectares.
The Canal has a 650 cubic meters capacity per second, covering three provinces of the country, Balkh, Jawzjan and Faryab; among them, the last two provinces share a border with Turkmenistan.
The neighbouring countries, including Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, are worried about the project’s effect on them as the downstream countries, experts say.
Since Afghanistan is an upstream country, due to the two decades of conflict has yet to be able to use its water resources. As a result, most neighbouring countries took advantage of the situation and utilized the water without consoling Afghanistan.
