Work on 12km road and sports stadium completed in Paktia province

Late last week, Pajhwok Afghan News (PAN) reported that reconstruction work on a 12km road in Gardez, the capital city of Afghanistan’s eastern province of Paktia, was completed at a cost of $3,400,000. The road links the Tiri Kandao area with Sharan, the capital of neighboring Paktika province. “It is an important project for residents of the two provinces and will help ease traffic snarls in Gardez,” provincial governor Juma Khan Hamdard told PAN. The reported added that “about 385-km of roads have so far been constructed in the province”.

In other development news in the province, yesterday PAN reported that construction work on a new sports stadium in Gardez has been completed. The reported said that the project took one year to complete at a cost of $700,000. The stadium can hold 1500 spectators, and it will be used to hold various different sporting events, according to provincial Olympic committee head, Mohammad Amin Alamyar.

October 23, 2011 · admin · No Comments
Posted in: Afghan Sports News, Afghanistan's Economy, Reconstruction and Development

New school buildings inagurated in Kabul; Samangan schools get equipment

Pajhwok Afghan News (PAN) reported today that buildings for two high schools in Kabul were inaugurated today. The building for the Sharak-e Mehdia High School has 22 classrooms and the building for the Syedul Shuhada High School has 12 classrooms. The project was funded by the Japanese at a cost of $615,000.  The buildings took one year to be completed, according to the PAN report. The report also added that the Japanese government provided the schools with desks and chairs.

Meanwhile, an education official told PAN that “more than 200 schools were provided with modern equipment as part of efforts at improving educational standards in northern Samangan province”. The money, which was provided by the World Bank, provided the schools with $320,000 worth of laboratory equipment, textbooks, computers, tables, chairs as well as tents.

October 16, 2011 · admin · No Comments
Posted in: Education, Reconstruction and Development

Khost Province: Sports stadium inaugurated, and a new school to be built

A sports stadium, built according to international standards, was recently inaugurated in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Khost. Provincial officials, members of parliament, and the provincial governor, Abdul Jabbar Naeemi participated in the inauguration ceremony. According to Afghan media reports, the stadium took three years to build at a cost of over a million dollars. Funding for the project came from Afghanistan’s Olympic Committee. The stadium will be used to hold racing, volleyball, basketball, football as well as cricket games. It has the capacity to hold almost 20,000 spectators.

Also, in Khost province, the provincial governor recently laid the foundation stone of a new secondary school building that will be built. The building will be a one story building which will have 12 classrooms. It will meet the educational needs of hundreds of boys and girls who currently study in the open, under trees or in tents.

October 2, 2011 · admin · No Comments
Posted in: Afghan Sports News, Education, Reconstruction and Development

Salt Refinery Plant Inaugurated In Balkh Province

Pajhwok Afghan News (PAN) reported today that a $4 million private salt refinery was inaugurated today in Afghanistan’s northern province of Balkh. The factory was setup by the Mullah Azad Group, the director of the factory, Mahfoozullah Fagur, told PAN. The factory currently employs 200 people and will soon be raised to 1000 once another $24 million in investments are made. The factory plans to employ both men and women. According to the PAN report, the plant can refine 480 tonnes of salt in 24 hours. Moreover, according to the director, the factory will produce 168,000 tonnes of salt a year. The PAN report added that Abdul Zahir Wahdat, the Balkh deputy governor, said that the creation of the plant will “boost the country’s economy”.

September 25, 2011 · admin · No Comments
Posted in: Afghanistan's Economy, Job Creation, Reconstruction and Development, Women's Rights

Water Projects Completed In Samangan Province

Afghanistan’s Bakhtar News Agency (BNA) reported last week that water supply projects have been completed in the northern province of Samangan recently. This has allowed for approximately 3,500 families to have access to clean drinking water as well as hygienic water for all their other needs. Engineer Gul Rahman, who is the director of  the water supply program in the northern zone for the Human in Poverty organization, said that these projects have been completed at a total cost of  $230,000. The financial support for these water projects was provided by GTZ of Germany.

The projects included the digging of 14 wells, 6 deep drinking wells, construction of four water reservoirs (in the Hazrat Sultan district),  and three other water supply projects for three villages in the Khuram Sarbagh district of the province. Of the 3,500 families being provided with the hygienic water from these projects, nearly 2,500 families are from the Hazrat Sultan district, while 1,000 families are from the Khuram Sarbagh district.

September 25, 2011 · admin · No Comments
Posted in: Health News, Reconstruction and Development

Reports: $100 million food processing plant and new hospital to be built in Afghanistan

Afghanistan’s Tolo news reported two days ago that the Dubai based ANHAM contracting firm “will invest $100 million in Afghanistan to build a food processing plant and a logistics hub covering 5,000 hectares of land.”

The report cited the Afghan Investment Support Agency (AISA) as saying that the project will create thousands of jobs, and that the “plant will be able to process agricultural produce from Afghanistan and neighbouring countries.” Moreover, ANHAM said that “it will help find international buyers for Afghanistan’s food products.” According to the report, construction work is scheduled to take 9 months to complete.

In other development news, Pajhwok Afghan News (PAN) reported yesterday that a new hospital will be built in the Surkh Rod district of Afghanistan’s eastern province of Nangarhar. The project is being funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The hospital building will have “electricity, water, waiting rooms and 17 beds”. The foundation stone of the building has already been laid, according to the PAN report.

September 12, 2011 · admin · No Comments
Posted in: Afghanistan's Economy, Health News, Job Creation, Reconstruction and Development

Two new schools built in northern Afghanistan

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Education announced today that 2 new school buildings have been inaugurated in northern Afghanistan.

The first school building is for the Bala Murghab High School in the Murghab district of Badghis province. According to a ministry official, the building took 1 year to build at a cost $471,285. The buildings consists of 16 classrooms, 3 administrative rooms, a guard room and 6 restroom stalls. A surrounding wall was also put in. Moreover, the new school building has an electric and water system.

The other building that was inaugurated is for the Malawi Rahmatullah Middle School in the Kishindeh district of Balkh province. According to a ministry official, the school building was built at a cost of $32,000 and it contains 6 classrooms, 2 administrative rooms and 5 restroom stalls. A water well was also put in for the school. Moreover, the school was provided with 80 two-seater tables and chairs.

August 28, 2011 · admin · One Comment
Posted in: Education, Reconstruction and Development

13 schools in 8 different provinces to be completed over the next 6 months

Afghan Minister of Education, Farooq Wardak

According to a report yesterday from Pajhwok Afghan News (PAN), contracts have just been signed for the building of thirteen new schools in eight different provinces in Afghanistan.  These schools will be constructed over the next six months, at a cost of more than $1.6 million. These schools will give almost 8,500 students the opportunity to get an education.  Afghanistan’s Minister of Education, Farooq Wardak, announced that the new schools will be built in Nangarhar, Laghman, Kabul, Ghazni, Herat, Badghis, Kunduz and Baghlan provinces. Several different constructions firms will be taking on the responsibility for building these thirteen different schools.  According to the PAN report, over the last ten years, over 10,700 school buildings have been built all across the country.

August 17, 2011 · admin · No Comments
Posted in: Education, Reconstruction and Development

Law and Justice Library Opens in Logar Province

Atiqullah Ludin, Governor of Logar Province

Logar’s provincial government and the Czech Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) opened a new law and justice library building for the provincial court in Pol-e Alam, the capital of Logar province, a press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic said today. According to the release, more than 100 hundred employees of the provincial court can use the new offices, meeting rooms and computer working stations equipped with internet access.

“This is a great asset for all the people in Logar, who are interested in law and justice. Not only for judges, prosecutors and officials, but also for students and the wider public,“ said Atiqullah Ludin, governor of Logar province, during the opening ceremony. “They can find everything necessary here –computers, internet and enough space for their work and meetings,” he said.

The project is a part of the Czech support to the governance system in Logar.

August 14, 2011 · admin · No Comments
Posted in: Human Rights, Reconstruction and Development

Kandahar Public Health Department Gets 11 Ambulances

Last week, the Wakht News Agency (WNA) reported that in a public ceremony, the Governor of Kandahar, Tooryalai Wesa, presented eleven well equipped ambulances to the Kandahar Public Health Department.  The ambulances were donated by the the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).  These ambulances were purchased at a cost 24 million Afghanis (approx. $510,311).  According to the report, Wesa ” thanked the USAID for its generous efforts and donations and said that it would enhance the capacity of the department and benefit the people at large.” The Governor also thanked the Chief of Public Health for helping to improve the health services in the province.

August 14, 2011 · admin · One Comment
Posted in: Health News

Bala Hisar Fort reconstruction survey begins; New park to be built in Kabul

 

Bala Hisar

Hamidullah Sarwary, the Director of Information and Culture, told Pajhwok Afghan News, that a reconstruction survey of the old Bala Hisar Fort in southern Ghazni province is currently underway. A project to restore the Fort will begin shortly after the survey is completed, and the millions it is expected to cost is being paid for by the Aachen University of Germany.

According to archeologist and engineer Ghulam Muhammad Zia Rawan, “Bala Hisar and Qala Ghaznian were important centers of the Ghaznavid era. The forts once housed the old city of Ghazni.”  The Fort sits at the tail end of the Kuh-e-Sherdarwaza mountain and was the site of some of the bloodiest fighting during the two Anglo-Afghan wars.  The Fort was also where Shah Shuja, one of Afghanistan’s kings held court.

Steeped in such history, this Fort is one of Afghanistan’s cultural and historical gems and is currently in a state of severe disorder due to more than three decades of war.  In fact, four months ago, one of the towers of the Bala Hisar Fort collapsed, causing people to complain about the “lack of attention to historical sites by the authorities concerned.” Restoring this Fort will help to preserve the history and architecture of old Afghanistan for many more generations of people from Afghanistan and from all over the world to enjoy and to learn from.

In other reconstruction news, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) said on Sunday that they are funding a project to be carried out by the Kabul Municipality to build a new park in the 11th district of Kabul, Khair Khana. Both Pajhwok Afghan News and Wakht News Agency has reported that this park will take three months to build and will be named the, “Bibi Sarwary Park.”  This new park will be built next to the Bibi Sarwary Sangari High School. When finished, it will help to provide a, “green space to filter air pollution and a place for students to enjoy.”

The Kabul Municipality said that this will not be the only park to be built in the near future, and that they are responding to the citizens’ demands for more open spaces, and more recreational areas for people to enjoy.  The Kabul Municipality also said that with the funding from the USAID’s Kabul City Initiative Project, they will build a safety wall around the park’s perimeter, and also add, sidewalks, and solar lighting facilities. Other additions will include guard and maintenance rooms, installation of a gate, irrigation for the park, playground equipment, as well as trees, shrubs and flowers.

August 7, 2011 · admin · No Comments
Posted in: Cultural Heritage, Environmental Issues, Reconstruction and Development

Four New Schools To Be Built In Sar-e Pol Province

Last week, the Wakht News Agency (WNA) reported that the Ministry of Education announced that the foundations for four schools have been poured in the northern province of Sar-e Pol. Officials from the provincial education department, tribal elders and teachers attended the foundation stone laying ceremonies for the schools. Per the WNA report, a school for girls is being built in the Poltrab area of Gosfandi district.  Another school is being built in Olya, a village of Kurk, in the Sozma district.  Two other schools, one for boys and one for girls are being built in the Sancharak district of the province. According to the WNA report, each of these schools will contain seven classrooms, two administration rooms, six restroom stalls and a wall that surrounds the school.  The total cost for the project is estimated at $482,‎‎000 USD. It is being funded by UNICEF.

August 7, 2011 · admin · No Comments
Posted in: Education, Reconstruction and Development