Ten officials of the Ministry of Energy and Water, Afghanistan, began their training program on drainage and irrigation structures at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) on 1 September 2015. Welcomed by AIT’s Vice President for Research, Prof. Kanchana Kanchanasut, the Afghan officials come from Kabul, Jalalabad, Kandahar and Mazar.Prof. Kanchana told the participants that ever since its establishment, AIT has been offering various capacity building, training and outreach activities related to water and environmental conservation and management. The Water Engineering and Management (WEM) program imparts education and training aimed at a better understanding of the complexity of water use and water resources management problems, she said.Program coordinator, Dr. Sangam Shrestha of WEM program in AIT’s School of Engineering and Technology (SET) outlined the details of the program adding that participants will have exposed to irrigation related projects managed by Royal Irrigation Department (RID), including the Pa Sak River Basin Development Project. Besides, the team will also visit the Irrigation Development Institute, and a demonstration farm at Pak Kret.
The Afghan team, which is led by Mr. Mohammad Qasem Noori, National Senior Irrigation Design Engineer, appreciated the role played by AIT in capacity building in Afghanistan.
This is the third major Afghan team at AIT this year. Earlier in July, 30 engineers hailing from the Western Basins regions of Afghanistan had arrived under an ADB program funded by the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD). Eighteen of them have enrolled in the WEM field of study to pursue their Master’s, while the remaining are enrolled in Agricultural Systems and Engineering (ASE), Mechatronics, Computer Science, and the School of Management. In August, another team of Afghan engineers had arrived at AIT for a two-week program on feasibility studies for irrigation projects.
