Badakhshan residents build road on self-help basis

FAIZABAD (PAN): Asphalting of a five-kilometre road was completed by locals in the Tishkan district of northern Badakhshan province, officials said on Sunday.

Muhammad Azim Musavi, the town’s administrative head, told Pajhwok Afghan News residents of 70 villages took two days to bring essential materials on donkeys and horses from the district centre to the site.

The villages remain cut off throughout winter due to the blockade of the key link as a result of snowfall, he said, adding residents had decided last summer to improve the road’s condition.

People worked on the road, when allowed by the weather, and were able to finish the pavement process with the help of excavators last week.

The Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development has promised repairing the remaining 17-kilometre portion of the road to the district center, in addition to building bridges and culverts. The district chief said the project would take one year to complete.

Abdul Rauf, the district rehabilitation council head, said previously residents had no facility to take their patients to hospital. He added most of the people travelled on foot or on animals to reach the district centre.

Syed Wali, a resident of Hawoza-i-Saeed village, complained no one paid attention to their problems. He said the road connecting their villages with the district centre was repaired by residents themselves.

He hoped most of their problems would be resolved if the road was reconstructed. Tishkan district is located about 70 kilometers from the provincial capital, Faizabad.

mds/ma/mud