KABUL (TCA) — On January 8, a Chinese construction firm signed a contract to build a key road in Afghanistan, China’s Xinhua news agency reports.
Afghan Minister of Public Works Mahmoud Baligh and Vice Chairman of China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) Lu Shan signed the US $205-million contract during a ceremony held in Afghan Presidential Palace and witnessed by President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani.
“Launching of Dare-e-Sof and Yakawlang Road project by the Chinese firm will definitely increase Afghan economic growth and it is a significant step for connecting Afghan provinces,” Baligh said at the ceremony.
The road which goes through more than 37 villages will connect Dare-e-Sof district in northern Samangan province to Yakawlang district of the neighboring central Bamyan province, he said.
The 178-km-road project is the second part of a National North-South Corridor and the first phase of the corridor which connects northern Marzar-i-Sharif city to Yakawlang has already been completed, and the ministry is currently in the process of planning the third phase of the corridor, a 550-km road which would connect Bamyan to southern Kandahar province, the minister said.
“The project will definitely improve the connectivity in the country and the region at large,” Baligh said, adding that the project will further bring facilities for local farmers and it will also help the government to exploit a coal mine which is located along the project.
The project will take some three and a half years to complete in the mountainous region.
The project will build a seven-meter road, eight big and 194 small bridges.
Lu told the ceremony that Afghanistan is a friendly neighbor of China and that China had an important role in the reconstruction process of Afghanistan.
The project will be financed by the Asian Development Bank.
