Cleanliness of historic Ghazni fort begins

GHAZNI CITY (PAN): The cleanliness of the historic Bala Hisar Fort in southern Ghazni province got under way on Sunday, a senior official said.

The 1.5 million pounds (95,170,000 afghanis) reconstruction would be paid by the Aachen University of Germany, said Governor Musa Khan Akbarzada, who urged aid agencies to help the province.

He said the cleanliness would take two months to complete, with the two-year reconstruction of the fort beginning in spring, the governor added.

Although it has no known history, antiques found from it show the fort had great strategic importance in the past. Experts would be involved in the reconstruction project to avoid damage to the fort, Director of Information and Culture Hameedullah Sarwari said.

Ghazni is to become the Centre of Islamic Culture and Civilisation in 2013 based on a decision taken by culture ministers from Muslim countries in 2007 in Tripoli, the capital of Libya, and approved by the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

mas/mud