Afganistan: A dozen bridges, health centres inaugurated in Kunduz
KUNDUZ CITY/KABUL/TALOQAN (PAN):
A dozen bridges, facilitating the transportation of goods to Dasht-i-Archi
district of the Kunduz province, were inaugurated. Ajmal Paiman, spokesman
for the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitations and Development (MRRD), told
Pajhwok Afghan News the bridges linked a number of small villages with
the district headquarters. He revealed the project - costing around 14
million afghanis provided from the MRRD budget - was implemented under
the National Solidarity Programme (NSP). At least 10 per cent of the cost
was met by residents. Also on Sunday, work began on a health centre being
constructed over one acre of land in the same town. With 10 per cent of
the input coming from the local community, the spokesman explained, the
health facility was being executed under the NSP. Engineer Ahmad Niaro,
director of the Rural Rehabilitation and Development Department in the
northern province, recalled 220 bridges were built and 300 wells dug up
last year in Dasht-i-Archi at the cost of more than 55 million afghanis.
According to MRRD officials, over 19,900 uplift projects have been completed
in 17,200 villages across the country at the cost of $244 million since
2003. More than 14 million people are beneficiaries of the development
schemes. In the capital Kabul, a neonatal centre as well as a female waiting
hall were inaugurated at Istiqlal Hospital. Premature and low-weight neonates
with respiratory complications would be treated at the centre, doctors
said. Muhammad Ali Ishan, administrative head of the hospital, told an
inaugural ceremony the centre was set up with financial assistance of $20,000
from Italy. He estimated most of the 10 per cent babies born prematurely
in Kabul died for lack of facilities. Ishan added a waiting hall had also
been established for females at the hospital, which previously did not
have a proper place for visitors and attendants. At least 12 supportive
walls would be constructed over the next eight months along Kukcha River
in the northern Takhar province. The spurs measuring seven kilometres will
protect approximately 3,500 acres of farmland and 200 dwellings from seasonal
flooding. GTZ has provided seven million afghanis for the protective wall
project, a longstanding demand of the locals. Daniel Pea Son, GTZ head
for Kunduz, said his agency would implement several other uplift plans
in the province during the current year.
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