Drivers, passengers want Kabul-Kandahar road rebuilt

QALAT (Pajhwok): Drivers and passengers on the Kabul-Kandahar highway say the busy road is in a dilapidated condition, which has prolonged their journey time.

They add the road’s rundown condition not only results in fatal traffic accidents, but also damages cars which move slow and consume a lot of fuel.

Noorul Haq, a trailer driver on the road, told Pajhwok Afghan News all bridges and culverts on the road had been destroyed by landmine explosions in the past 20 years, blaming the highway’s further deterioration on heavy and overweight trucks.

In the past when the road was in good condition, it took six hours to reach Kabul from Kandahar, but now it takes ten hours with great difficulty.

He said the major problem drivers faced was that their cars develop faults and consume a lot of fuel, which causes them loss instead of profit. Because the fare he takes in exchange for transporting goods, he spends half of it back on repairing the vehicle.

He urged the government to fundamentally reconstruct the important road of the country so that drivers and passengers can be provided with safe travel facility.

Sibghatullah, another driver on the Kabul-Kandahar road, says on the one hand, the road is in bad condition and on the other, fuel prices have increased manifold. He says most of the bloody traffic accidents happen on this road because of its rundown condition.

He told Pajhwok Afghan News: “We have heard that the new caretaker government is planning to build this road. Our request is that these works should be started soon to provide convenience to traders, drivers and passengers on this important transit route.”

Another car driver Qudratullah told Pajhwok that the road’s dilapidated condition had made the journey longer, with drivers and passengers both grumbling.

He said on the one hand, the road is in bad condition and on the other hand, fuel has become expensive, which has increased their problems.

Officials of Zabul Department of Public Works acknowledge the problems of drivers and passengers on the Kabul-Kandahar road and say a plan has been made to reconstruct the road, which will be implemented in the near future.

Administrative and financial manager of the department, Ruzi Muhammad Roshan, told Pajhwok that the initial works of construction of about 900 kilometers of the road from Kabul to Herat have been done. After the procurement process, the road’s construction project would be given to a contractor.

The Kabul-Kandahar highway is about 500 km long, which is one of the important transit routes of the country and people have long been demanding its reconstruction.

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