Projects worth millions of dollars on the boil in Khost

Khost City, October 12, 2007 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Calling 2007 the reconstruction year for the underdeveloped Khost province, Governor Arsala Jamal says projects costing millions of dollars are on the boil.

Praising what he described a 10n-folded increase in uplift funds for the province, the governor claimed the US had pledged millions of dollars to the reconstruction of the province this year.

"We have constructed buildings for five district headquarters and 12 police headquarters this year," Jamal pointed out in an exclusive chat with Pajhwok Afghan New. In Khost, not even a single district is without a new headquarters building," he claimed.

Paving roads in all districts was the most important project for the current year, he observed, saying the ongoing development work in Khost was a model as all districts had got paved roads within a year.

Work has already got under way on a road linking Ghulam Khan with Khost, revealed the governor, who promised the construction of Khost-Babrak Khana and Zazai-Maidan roads would begin shortly.

Arsala said they would construct 47 schools at the cost of $4.7 million this year in addition to digging up 400 water wells in the province.

Provincial Education Director Aziz Ahmad Hashimi remarked the construction of 47 buildings in one year would be unprecedented in the history of Khost, which has 180 schools and seminaries. Only 40% of Khost schools have proper buildings.

Provincial Water Supply Department head Engineer Abdul Mar Khan Lemar said they had built 32 water dams in Khost at the cost of about two million US dollars this year. The US embassy has pledged them a good deal of assistance this year, the governor added.

The US PRT based in the province supports most of the projects in Khost, Sr. Capt Adams said. He added the Khost PRT had received a greater budget this year. The Khost governor has presented us with proposals while other provinces did not. The donors were impressed by his proposals and allocated Khost a greater development budget.