11b afs spent on Nangarhar uplift projects

JALALABAD (PAN): Up to 2,000 development projects, costing 11 billion afghanis (more than $222 million) have been executed over the past one year in the eastern province of Nangarhar, Governor Gul Aghan Sherzai said on Wednesday.

Last year’s development spending in the province showed an increase of 3.5 billion afs over 2010, the governor told a meeting marking farmers’ day. He promised the province would be poppy-free by the end of 2012.

Sherzai said construction work on the Torkham-Jalalabad and Jalalabad-Kabul highways’ second lane would be launched soon. A Torkham-Jalalabad railway track will be laid and electricity extended from Naghlu dam to the provincial capital.

Deputy Governor Mohammad Hanif Gardiwal put Nangarhar’s revenue for the last year at 14.15 billion afs, compared to 8.4 billion afs in 2010, showing a 46 percent jump.

Last year, 6 million saplings, 80tractors, eight tonnes of soybean seeds, six tonnes of saffron seeds, pine trees for 40 hectares of land, 10,400 tonnes of improved seeds and 1,660 tonnes of chemical fertilisers were distributed to farmers in the province, said Agriculture Director Mohammad Hussain Safi.

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