26 APRIL 2011 | KABUL, AFGHANISTAN

 

Afghanistan began importing power from Uzbekistan via the North East Power System and desperately needed engineers with a background in the operation and maintenance of transmission and distribution systems.

 

After discussions with Da Afghanistan Breshna Sherkat, the Afghan national utility company, the most needed skills were defined, after which, 26 graduates from Kabul Polytechnic University (KPU) started a focused training program, funded by USAID.  The graduates received classroom and practical training and follow-up training in the form of site visits related to leadership/management, mechanical systems supporting a transmission and distribution system, thermal power plants, hydro power plants, advanced English, and computer training.  This was followed by a two-month practical training on wind/solar power generation and a custom 26-week program on operations and maintenance of transmission and distribution systems,” at the National Power Training Institute’s facilities in Bangalore, India.

 

Twenty-one KPU graduates completed this USAID funded program after nearly two years of post-graduate training under their belt.  They were regarded as the best-trained group of KPU graduates to enter the Afghan electrical engineering market.  At last report, eleven of the trainees were finalizing their employment agreements with Da Afghan Breshna Sherkat, seven with the Ministry of Energy and Water, and three with the private sector.

 

The spokesman for the group told USAID, “We are the best trained group of Afghan electrical engineers ever and we will prove it.”  Two years of technical and leadership training has instilled self-confidence in the group of 21 engineers that will most assuredly produce success in their careers and an addition to the leadership potential in Afghanistan’s energy sector.