.AFGHANISTAN: USAID pledges US $105 million to road project
KABUL, 21 August (IRIN) - The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has pledged US $105 million to construct a 110 km road in northeastern Badakhshan province that will serve 730,000 people.
The road would link Kishem district to Faizabad, Badakhshan's capital. Construction was expected to start next year, USAID said.
"The rehabilitation of this road is one of the critical elements in Afghanistan's development," Ronald Neumann, the US ambassador to Afghanistan, said during a visit to the area on Sunday.
USAID said the road would be an important trading link to major markets in Badakhshan, the north and neighbouring Tajikistan. It would enhance Afghanistan's position as an internal land bridge between central and south Asia, promoting the import and export of goods.
USAID said it would also increase access to education and health care, the opportunity for international travel, decrease ethnic divisions, reactivate the agriculture sector, reduce unemployment and improve the country's security and stability.
Neumann said that the road was essential to the development of Afghanistan's legal economy.
"Roads connect market centres and reduce transaction costs for alternative crops, enabling farmers to reduce their dependency on opium for their livelihoods," Neumann said.
The country's roads have been terribly damaged by decades of fighting making access to certain regions all but impossible.
On 3 August this year USAID said it would supply 27,010 mt of food worth more than $16 million to help 2.5 million drought-hit people in Afghanistan. It also pledged $20 million to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)in late July.
Reuters
The road would link Kishem district to Faizabad, Badakhshan's capital. Construction was expected to start next year, USAID said.
"The rehabilitation of this road is one of the critical elements in Afghanistan's development," Ronald Neumann, the US ambassador to Afghanistan, said during a visit to the area on Sunday.
USAID said the road would be an important trading link to major markets in Badakhshan, the north and neighbouring Tajikistan. It would enhance Afghanistan's position as an internal land bridge between central and south Asia, promoting the import and export of goods.
USAID said it would also increase access to education and health care, the opportunity for international travel, decrease ethnic divisions, reactivate the agriculture sector, reduce unemployment and improve the country's security and stability.
Neumann said that the road was essential to the development of Afghanistan's legal economy.
"Roads connect market centres and reduce transaction costs for alternative crops, enabling farmers to reduce their dependency on opium for their livelihoods," Neumann said.
The country's roads have been terribly damaged by decades of fighting making access to certain regions all but impossible.
On 3 August this year USAID said it would supply 27,010 mt of food worth more than $16 million to help 2.5 million drought-hit people in Afghanistan. It also pledged $20 million to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)in late July.
Reuters
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