Kabul, 26 August 2024 (TDI): Afghanistan has announced that the remaining work on the Wakhan-China road will be completed before the onset of winter.
Acting Minister of Rural Rehabilitation and Development Mohammad Younus Akhundza said that construction work on the bridges, culverts, and retaining walls of the fifty-kilometer Wakhan-China road is currently underway.
He said that the Wakhan road was contracted during the Republic era by councils and private firms at a cost of 360 million Afghani. With the return of the Islamic Emirate and the suspension of the councils’ activities, the construction contract for the Wakhan road was resumed in 2023.
The acting minister added that during a trip, he was accompanied by friends from China and the Chinese ambassador. They wanted to inspect the area to see if a railway line could be built along the road, he added.
The minister said that they initially thought several kilometers of tunnels would be required on this road; however, it was proven to them that not even one kilometer of tunnel is needed.
Akhundzada also said that the World Bank has promised to restart its incomplete projects in Afghanistan.
He added that the issue has now progressed to the point where they are considering returning. They abandoned nearly 20,000 projects halfway and fled the country. We made it clear to them that they left nearly 20,000 projects unfinished and took with them the salaries of thousands of our employees for a month. This led them to reply that they will return.
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Officials from the ministry underlined significant achievements, including the construction of the Kaj Nimroz dam at a cost of 2 billion afghani, the implementation of a major dam project in the border district of Golestan, Farah, valued at 2 billion afghani, the Qadis dam in Badghis at a cost of 12.5 million dollars, the construction of small dams in thirteen provinces at a cost of 426 million afghani, the implementation of rural water supply projects across Afghanistan at a cost of one billion afghani, and the reconstruction of retaining walls and hundreds of kilometers of rural roads in twenty three provinces.
