Kabul, Afghanistan, June 24 - From June 14 to 17, 23 senior level officials from the Afghan government and leaders from the private sector gathered in Delhi to hear innovative practitioners from around the world discuss best practices in both road management and road finance. Presentations by experts from the United Kingdom, New Zealand, South Africa, Zambia, Nepal, India, and the U.S spurred discussion among Afghan stakeholders about how reforms could best move forward in Afghanistan.
USAID sponsored the "Conference on the Management and Financing of Roads" with the purpose of advancing the goals of the Afghanistan National Development Strategy to provide sustainable financing and management of Afghanistan's newly revitalized road network.
The conference concluded with an action plan for the creation of an independent road authority to manage the private sector delivery of both road construction and maintenance.
"Paying attention to road maintenance is one the most vital issues for Afghanistan's economic growth," said Azarakhsh Hafezi, President of International Affairs Committee in the Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Through donor funding of close to $4 billion, Afghanistan has seen its road network resurrected. Afghanistan's road network has become one of the country's greatest national assets. However, this valuable asset will rapidly erode if not properly managed. Eng. Khaial Mohammad, a Member of the National Assembly, warned that the "lack of attention to road maintenance creates a terrible economic impact."
Already thousands of kilometers of rehabilitated provincial and rural roads have fallen into disrepair, making some of them virtually unusable. To avoid the costly cycle of construction, deterioration, and rehabilitation, reform is urgently needed. Mohammad added that one of the most important points of the conference was that "the road users are the road owners."
The conference was chaired by H.E. Wahidullah Shahrani, Afghanistan's Minister of Mines and the Head of the Economic and Infrastructure Development cluster. It brought together 14 senior level officials from the Afghan government with 9 leaders from the private sector to discuss the best path of reform for Afghanistan.