A United States-funded Afghan power plant is in a near state of ruin due to lack of use at the facility, according to a recent government audit.
The Tarakhil Power Plant, located in Kabul, was intended to be a major supplier of power to the region. However, the federal audit found that the $335 million American taxpayer-funded plant is producing a meager 0.34 percent of power on the Kabul grid.
Government watchdog group Judicial Watch reports:
Tarakhil, a diesel-fueled plant constructed outside of Kabul was expected to provide affordable and reliable electricity considered critical to the economic growth and stability of Afghanistan. Instead it contributes a relatively small amount of electricity to the power grid serving Kabul, a federal investigation found. From February 2014 through April 2015, the Tarakhil Power Plant produced a mere 0.34 percent of the total power on the Kabul grid, according to the probe which was conducted by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).
The multi-million dollar diesel-fueled Kabul power plant "does not seem to have contributed significantly" to the "important goal" of providing affordable and reliable electricity critical to the economic goal and stability of Afghanistan, the inspector general writes in its report. The document refers to the failed project as a "significant expenditure of U.S. taxpayer funds," which is quite an understatement.
Despite these findings, the U.S. Agency for International Development still calls the Tarakhil power plant a "vital component" to serving Kabul’s power needs.