KABUL, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan caretaker government's acting Minister of Energy and Water Abdul Latif Mansoor has said that his war-torn country has access to 900 Megawatts of electricity and that efforts are underway to increase its capacity to 1,000 Megawatts, the state-run Bakhtar news agency reported Saturday.

According to the state-run media outlet, the official made the remarks in his speech at the inauguration ceremony of a 10-megawatt solar energy project in Naglo district, 60 km east of Kabul, on Saturday.

According to official sources, Afghanistan produces around 300 Megawatts of power from domestic sources and imports 620 Megawatts annually from the neighboring countries of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Iran, and Turkmenistan.

To overcome the power shortage, the administration has been working on solar panels and gas-generating power, and building water dams in several provinces.

Power shortages and load shedding are everywhere in Afghanistan, including the capital city of Kabul. Residents of the capital city have been regularly suffering from power shortages for eight to 10 hours out of 24 hours a day.

The Afghan administration laid the foundation stone of a 22.75 Megawatt solar generating energy outside Kabul a couple of weeks ago. With the support of the private sector at 18.2 million U.S. dollars, the project would be completed in 10 months. Enditem

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