EC funds reconstruction of Kabul-Torkham road

The EC has awarded a €26 million (about US $31.5 million) contract to a Chinese engineering company, China Railway Shisiju Group Corporation, for the first reconstruction phase of the vital 222-km Kabul-Jalalabad-Torkham (Towr Kham) road. "We are now glad to get started. As Afghanistan's economic recovery accelerates, the road will need to bear thousands of heavy vehicles every week. We want to ensure that the road we build is very strong so it will be a contributing factor to Afghanistan economic growth, its trade and transport for many years to come with a minimum of maintenance," the head of the EC Representation Office in Kabul, Karl Harbo, said at the signing of the contract on Sunday, The contract covers the reconstruction cost of the 75-km stretch of the road from Sarowbi to Jalalabad, and signals the start of a two stage project costing more than €65 million aimed at rehabilitating Afghanistan's vital trade and transport corridor to its eastern border with Pakistan. Major construction work is expected to begin in mid-December. Poor security has plagued reconstruction of the Kabul-Kandahar road and put the project back by several months. "We'll be working with the government and ISAF [International Security Assistance Force], which we are expecting will be extended beyond Kabul in order to ensure security on the Kabul-Torkham road programme," the EC press officer in Kabul, Harold Ryan, told IRIN. After 20 years of war, the Kabul to Torkham highway requires extensive repair, including reconstruction of a series of tunnels and bridges between the two cities. By the end of the reign of the Taliban, the trip was taking over eight hours. On completion of the renovation in 2005, the journey from Kabul to the Pakistani border will take about four hours. The route is vital for the transport of agricultural produce from the main farming areas in eastern Afghanistan. It is also a lifeline for the import of much-needed construction materials and fuel to the densely populated regions of the country. "Machinery and equipment are already being moved to the site so work can begin on schedule," Ryan added. The Chinese company actually constructing the road will be working with local communities to utilise local labour wherever possible, thereby creating hundreds of jobs, according to the EC. The second stage of the EC-funded project will rehabilitate the 70-km mountainous section of the road between Sarowbi and Kabul and is expected to begin next spring. In a parallel project, the government of Pakistan is funding the reconstruction of 70 km of the road from Jalalabad to the border crossing at Torkham. Work on this section of the road is expected to begin at the end of this year. The EC is also planning the construction of a bypass road around Jalalabad city to further reduce travel time between the Pakistani border and Kabul, as well as to divert heavy vehicles away from the old city centre.