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Development Surges into
Kandahar
February - 15 - 2007
(Kandahar)
 Taking advantage of
greatly improved security
in Kandahar
province, His Excellency
Mohammad Ehsan Zia,
Minister of Rural
Rehabilitation and
Development (MRRD), today
finished signing 65
contracts for development
projects throughout the
province, bringing the
total number of contracts
signed since January to
190. MRRD has been surging
USD18 million (funded by
Canadian International
Development Agency and
United States Agency for
International Development)
in development assistance
into the province in order
to bring positive changes
to the lives of local
citizens. Ministry
activities in Kandahar so
far have included
identifying community
needs, conducting surveys,
and signing contracts with
qualified local companies
Minister Zia also
announced that the Social
Protection Food Assistance
Unit of MRRD is working
with the World Food
Program (WFP) to provide
Food for Work in districts
all over Kandahar. A
distribution of 5,820 MT
mixed food is planned
during 2007 which will
target about 50,820 food
insecure families
(approximately 304,920
beneficiaries/persons) and
will provide short-term
job opportunities for
several thousand workers.
This project will help to
rehabilitate and implement
projects identified by the
communities and the
government, including 26.5
km feeder road, 139
canals, 89 Karizes, 36 wells, 61 Nawars and 65 intakes(Sarbands). Part of this assistance is funded by CIDA.
‘Perhaps most encouraging
thing I have witnessed in
Kandahar province has been
the overwhelming
determination of the
people to rebuild their
lives. Everywhere my team
of engineers and I have
gone, we have been
welcomed with open arms
and taken under the
personal protection of
local elders and
communities,’ said
Minister Zia, who is
paying his third visit to
the Province in six weeks.
The total value of
Canadian and US-funded
MRRD projects initiated in
the province so far totals
USD $4,322,569. Out of
this number, work on 172
projects has already
begun, with the estimated
number of beneficiaries
standing at 100,000
families, or 700,000
individuals.
Such a massive development
surge is unique in the
history of Kandahar
province, particularly
since projects have been
selected based on
extensive consultation
with local people,
including elected and
traditional leadership.
Projects identified by
local people as priorities
include building clinics,
schools, roads, bridges,
water reservoirs, clean
drinking water networks,
rehabilitating canals, and
establishing small scale
hydro-electric power
stations. Furthermore, the
Ministry is working to
help address the root
causes of the insurgency
in Kandahar province by
providing thousands of
local job opportunities,
and using community
resources and contractors
to the greatest extent
possible.
As part of an ongoing
development and
rehabilitation campaign in
Kandahar, MRRD is also
providing food and
non-food assistance to
approximately 5,800
recently returned
Internally Displaced
Persons (IDPs), over a
third of those displaced
by last fall’s fighting.
In addition to all the 190
Kandahar province
development projects, MRRD
has also established its
flagship National
Solidarity Programme (NSP)
in 8 districts of Kandahar,
and work is ongoing to
expand NSP to cover all 17
districts of Kandahar
province.
To oversee all its
projects, MRRD moved a
team of development
experts to Kandahar in
January, and initiated
regular Ministerial visits
to the province.
MRRD, through its
different national
programmes such as
National Solidarity
Programme (NSP), Rural
Water and Sanitation
Programme (RuWatSan),
National Rural Access
Programme (NRAP),
National
Area Based Development Programme (NABDP) and
Micro Finance Investment
Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA),
has been working hard to
bring real changes in
lives of the close to 80%
of Afghans who live in
rural areas by promoting
pro-poor policies and
strengthening good
governance through
grass-roots democracy.
Summary List of the
Projects Signed
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