Marja residents pestered by broken & bumpy roads

LASHKARGAH (Pajhwok): Residents of the Marja district of southern Helmand province complain they encounter problems in evacuating patients in time to the hospital due to bumpy and broken roads, but officials promise the reconstruction work will begin soon.

Mohammad Rasool, a resident of Marja, told Pajhwok Afghan News there was no asphalted road connecting the district to Lashkargah. The Marja-Lashkargah highway was asphalted in the past, but destroyed by conflict, Rasool said.

He added: “Now that security has returned to the district and the war is gone, we urge the government to reconstruct the road.”

Marjan, another resident, grumbled about patients dying on the way to the hospital because of the ragged road.

“We want the government to rebuild the road to facilitate the evacuation of patients to hospital and timely transportation of agricultural produce to the market,” he continued.

Eng. Nasir Ahmad Nasrat, in charge of roads’ maintenance at the Public Works Department, told Pajhwok Afghan News they had devised a plan for the Marja-Lashkargah road’s reconstruction. It will be implemented in near future.”

Nasrat said: “The Public Works Department prioritizes the rebuilding of the roads connecting district centres to the provincial capital Lashkargah, when possible.”

The reconstruction of most of highways and subways across the country, damaged by two decades of war, needs ample time and oodles of cash.

aw/mud

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