Government to construct huge storage facility at Shir Khan Port

Kunduz City, September 17, 2007 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Foundation stone of a huge store was laid at Shir Khan Port in the northern Kunduz province on Monday.

The store will be completed at the cost of 12 million afghanis provided by Ministry of Commerce. Construction of the store would be completed in six months.

Muhammad Hussain Mustaqim, head of Shir Khan Port, told Pajhwok Afghan News construction of the storage facility would help the national and international traders.

He said there was existing a store at the Shir Khan Port, but it was not according to the international standards as well as could not store goods exceeding 2,000 tons. However, he said, the new store would have the capacity of storing thousands tons of goods.

During the next phase, he said, a depot to keep traders' goods safe, weighing bridge, a health clinic, firefighting section and administrative block would also be constructed at the port.

Kunduz Governor engineer Muhammad Omar said the new storage facility would increase revenues of the province from Shir Khan Port. He said the provincial government was responsible to assure security of the traders' goods.

Japan to finance uplift projects

Japan will finance 18 uplift projects, including construction of schools, health clinics, bridge and protective wall at the cost of over 1.5 million US dollars in several provinces.

In this connection, contract was inked between Japanese ambassador to Kabul and relevant companies.

Speaking on the occasion, Japanese envoy Junichi Kosuge said the projects included construction of 14 schools, two health clinics, one bridge and one supportive wall. He said work on the projects would be completed in four to six months.

He said the schools would be constructed in Nangarhar, Bamyan, Takhar, Balkh and Parwan provinces. The clinics will be constructed in Bamyan and Nangarhar provinces, while the supportive wall will be constructed in Jawzjan and the bridge in Laghamn province.

Officials said over 70,000 people would benefit from the projects. According to Japanese ambassador, his country had implemented 580 projects in 34 provinces at the cost of over $57 million since 2002.