Afghanistan Times
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Akhtar M.Nikzad-KABUL: The Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) on Sunday signed contracts of 80 uplift projects with private companies and Community Development Councils (CDC).
The projects include renovation and reconstruction of retaining walls, irrigation canals, water intakes, rural roads and schools. The projects will be completed at the total cost of Afs256 millions in 14 provinces.
The Minister of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, Nasir Ahmad Durani signed the contract of these projects with representatives of the private firms and CDC delegations here in Kabul.
After signing the contracts, Duran said that the projects would be implemented in cooperation with people in rural areas of Balkh, Samangan, Baghlan, Badakhshan Panjshir, Ghor, Bamiyan, Laghman, Takhar Maidan Wardak, Daikundi, Kunar, Nuristan and Sar-e-Pul provinces.
He added that the development projects are funded by Asian Developed Bank and the Afghan government. The projects will be completed within three to 12 months time.
He said that the uplift projects will create thousands of job opportunities for people in the mentioned provinces.
He warned the private companies and the community councils to build the projects based on the requirements mentioned in the contract, and complete the project.
“Contract will be terminated, if the contractors violated the agreement,” he insisted.
He said that the ministry will give priority to agricultural projects, which are important for economic growth of families in rural areas.
“Before implementation of the projects, we stress over two important aspects: how much economic profit does it bring and how many jobs does it create,” he said.
Durani said that around 8,460 uplift projects have been completed at the total cost of $235 million over the past seven months across the country.
In the meantime, Chief of a village council in Takhar province, Mohammad Rahim said the MRRD’s projects play an important role in improvement of life of people in rural areas. He urged the MRRD to increase number of such projects across the country.
Officials in the MRRD said that insecurity and interference of warlords are the main challenges before implementation of development projects in rural areas.
