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Afghanistan

Afghanistan: Development continues in Kandahar

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Kandahar (April 14, 2007). In his fifth visit to Kandahar province, HE Mohammad Ehsan Zia Minister of Rural Rehabilitation and Development signed 50 contracts of development project with local community development councils (CDCs) and private companies. These projects value more than $ 2.4 million which will generate 26,000 labor days benefiting more than 25,000 individuals. MRRD through its latest development efforts in Kandahar provided short term employment to more than 7,000 villagers.

The projects include digging drinking water wells, construction and rehabilitation of roads, bridges and small irrigation dams for three southern provinces of Kandahar, Helmand and Urozgan.

"Improved security as well as support of local government and has enabled us to speed up the implementation of welfare projects in the southern province of Kandahar. This development campaign has provided a good model of quick impact projects and will be extended to other southern provinces as well as other priority disadvantaged areas" said M Ehsan Zia Minister of rural rehabilitation and development.

Since the start of these development efforts 15 districts of Kandahar have been covered while improved security and development activities greatly improved the lives of locals.

Haji Akhtar an elder of one of remote villages in Kandahar said "we are very happy to see development and reconstruction going on in our village. The implemented projects has solved most of our problems and provided jobs for us".

Since the start of its development activity in Kandahar 1,135 projects have been identified by people, 348 projects surveyed, 253 projects contracted and work on 200 projects has already started out of which 89 project have been completed.

MRRD thought its different national programmes such as National Solidarity Programme NSP, Water and Sanitation Programme WatSan, Emergency Humanitarian Response Progremme EHRP and National Rural Access Prgramme NRAP works together with rural communities to improve their lives and bring development.

Contact:

Shaheer Shahriar,
Director of Public Relations and Media and Spokesman to the MRRD
Phone: +93 (0)700 652 860
Email: shaheer.shahriar@mrrd.gov.af