THE CANADIAN PRESS

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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A massive turbine that will help bring reliable power to the people of Kandahar province arrived safely at its new home at a dam in neighbouring Helmand province thanks to thousands of Canadian, British and U.S. troops who guarded it as it passed through some of the country's most dangerous rebel territory.

Some 4,000 troops accompanied the turbine as it travelled about 180 kilometres from Kandahar city to the site of the Kajaki dam project - the largest American aid project in Afghanistan.

"The result of the operation will be a much needed increase in capacity to generate electrical power, which will create a better quality of life for Afghan people in southern Afghanistan," NATO's International Security Assistance Force said in a statement.

Troops from Denmark, Australia and Afghanistan also took part in the operation, which ended Tuesday when the turbine arrived in Kajaki.

The U.S.-led coalition said it killed 220 insurgents in Helmand province last week, coinciding with the turbine's movement through the region.

The week before, a Canadian-led operation dubbed Timis Preem, aimed in part at securing the main highway in anticipation of the turbine's journey, led to the death of more than 40 insurgents, including several commanders, military officials said.

It also led to the destruction of several underground bunkers - a command and control centre housing many of the improvised explosive devices often used by insurgents along Highway 1.

Many Canadians have lost their lives as a result of IEDs which are frequently hidden inside the irrigation culverts along the main artery that runs through the province.

Roadside bomb attacks along the highway were perhaps the biggest threat to the turbine convoy.

"They're able to zip up on motorbikes and lay IEDs," Canadian battle group Capt. Alex Duncan said before the operation, which was among the last before this rotation of troops returns to Canada.

"We have to get that turbine from Kandahar to that dam. This is our last hurrah. This is the battle group's last push to clear Pashmul."

Maj.-Gen. J. G. M. Lessard, the Canadian commander of NATO troops in southern Afghanistan, said the security mission to protect the turbine "clearly demonstrated" the commitment of both NATO and the Afghan government to reconstruction.

"Despite the disruptive effort from the insurgents, we achieved our goal and delivered the new turbine," Lessard said. "The insurgents efforts have not been successful. They will not win and are not winning in the southern region."

The turbine was reportedly escorted by a convoy of 100 vehicles and dozens of attack helicopters and fighter jets. Western officials have long fretted they would not be able to deliver the turbine safely through the Taliban-held land.

Kajaki is an American-built hydroelectric dam project with the potential to provide Afghanistan with six per cent of its power.

The dam was originally built in the 1950s to help Afghan farmers irrigate their fields.

U.S. crews returned to Kajaki in the 1970s and installed two turbines. In recent months, one turbine has been working but a second has been off line for repairs. A hole sat in between those two turbines where the third is to be installed.

The U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. government aid arm, has said the cost for refurbishing the two turbines and the purchase of the third is $51 million. But a lot of other work remains.

The region also needs new transmission lines that can carry the new, increased power to Kandahar and Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province. That will cost more than $77 million.

At full capacity, the three turbines together can provide southern Afghanistan with 51 megawatts of power, said John Shepard, an engineer from Tucson, Ariz., who has been working on the Kajaki project since 2004.

In total, Afghanistan has the potential to create about 770 megawatts of power on small, individual power grids that service local communities.

Canada's role in the Kajaki project was minimal despite the fact it will largely benefit the region under Canadian command.

A second dam initiative located in Kandahar province, however, is considered Canada's "signature" development project.

The goal of the $200-million, nine-year Arghandab Irrigation Rehabilitation Project is to improve the livelihoods of the Kandahar population by ensuring there is a reliable water supply for irrigation, agriculture and rural development.

The first phase, which Canada has assumed responsibility for, will ultimately involve the restoration of the Dahla dam itself as well as repairing the access roads and bridges, the canals and the natural drainage system.

The infrastructure phase is expected to be completed by the time Canada's combat mission in Afghanistan ends in 2011.

The estimated cost of this first phase is about $50 million.

"Between 60 and 80 per cent of the population depends on agriculture in the province," said Marius-Adrian Oancea, a civil engineer with the Canadian International Development Agency which is funding and managing the project.

"By offering the water when it's needed, you can first probably irrigate better the lands you have and you may add new canals and recover and reclaim lands which are not in use right now because of a lack of water."

Better irrigated lands, he said, will lead to increased productivity in that farmers may be able to introduce new or additional crops.

The project is expected to create some 10,000 new agriculture jobs and add some 10,000 hectares of new arable land, he said.

- With files from The Associated Press