Melting snow exposes shoddy Salang road work

CHARIKAR (Pajhwok): Local officials say a large portion of southern Salang highway has been damaged after its gravelling around six months ago.

Local officials say that a total of 30 kilometers of the highway was graveled in the Salang Pass at a cost of 53 million afgahnis by Nawi Spin Ghar and Mir Wadan companies.

However, local residents and drivers now complain many parts of the highway have been ruined.

Mohammad Sarwar, a driver of 404 model Mercedes passenger bus on Balkh-Kabul highway, told Pajhwok Afghan News that southern part of Salang Pass road was damaged from Awlang area to Haft Noor area and vehicles could hardly move on it.

He said that the road was damaged by melting snow.

“They cheated people, the graveling did not help, the road condition became clear after the snow started melting as it was covered by ice, now as the weather got warm and ice started melting, many potholes and uneven stretches surfaced on the road,” he said.

Mohammad Zarif, a resident of Imam Sahib district of Kunduz and a passenger who commutes on the highway, also complained about damaged parts of the road and asked officials to reconstruct them.

ObaidullahObaid, head of Salang Maintenance Department said, "The southern part of the road is highly damaged, most of its parts were damaged, unfortunately no standard materials were used in graveling it, all the road turned into mud and high tonnage vehicles stuck there.”

He said that the issue has been shared with officials of the central government but he was unable to contact Spin Ghar Company.

He noted that plans have been developed to standardize the Salang Highway and they would be implemented this year.

MehroGul, head of Mir Wadan Company, said that a 15-kilometers portion of the highway was constructed by his company in August last year which was completed in a month.

He said that the road his company constructed was not damaged and they were ready to repair it if there were any damages.

He said that 26.7 million afghanis was set aside for the contract for the road construction, but 20.8 million afghanis were spent on the project while the rest deposited to the state treasury.

Pajhwok tried to contact Spin Ghar Company officials who contacted 15 kilometers of southern Salang road, but failed.

mds/ma