Work launched on 3 buildings at Bamyan University

BAMYAN (Pajhwok): Construction work was launched on Sunday on three buildings for two faculties and a girls’ hostel on the university campus in central Bamyan province.

The buildings, a $1.5 million project, are being constructed with financial support from the Good Performance Initiative (GPI) program of the Ministry of Counternarcotics (MCN) and the United States.

The GPI program is an International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL)-funded program started in 2007 and being implemented by the Ministry of Counternarcotics in Afghanistan.

The GPI program allocates $1 million annually to development projects in the provinces having reduced or eliminated poppy cultivation successfully.

Counternarcotics Minister Salamat Azimi, speaking at the foundation laying ceremony of the buildings, said the two three-storey buildings for the social science and geology departments and the two-storey girls’ hostel were direly needed at the Bamyan University.  

He said the buildings would take a year to complete. Bamyan annually received $1 million for development and welfare projects after being declared a poppy-free province, he added. 

Bamyan Governor Mohammad Tahir Zohair hoped the buildings would resolve problems the university students currently faced.

He also asked the construction company to seriously focus on quality work during construction of the buildings.

Mohammad Amin Joya, the university vice chancellor, told Pajhwok Afghan News the university had six faculties and three of them were without buildings.  

He said 7,000 students were enrolled in the university and the construction of the buildings would resolve their problems.

The university also has a girls hostel accommodating 100 and a boys hostel housing 500 students , Joya said. The new two-storey dormitory for girls would have the capacity of accommodating 500 girls and would have many facilitates.

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