Unpaved Mawara-i-Kokcha road remains neglected: Drivers

TALOQAN (Pajhwok): Drivers of passenger vehicles criticize the halt to reconstruction work on the road passing through Mawara-i-Kokcha region of northern Takhar province, but local officials say it will be resumed soon.

The Mawara-i-Kokcha region encompasses seven districts — Khwaja Ghar, Yangi Qala, Dashti Qala, Khwaja Bahauddin, Rustaq, Dar Qad and Chahi Aab. The region is situated 171 kilometer away from the provincial capital, Taloqan.

Jamaluddin, a driver on the route, whose car broke down in Kokcha bridge area, told Pajhwok Afghan News: “I have been working as a driver since some years on the Yanqi Qala-Khuaja Bahauddin road. My car often develops faults, sometime the tires go flat while sometimes the engine breaks down and we get delayed for hours along with passengers and I spend my earning on repairing the car”.

He said the previous government had many times promised to reconstruct the road, but it did not live up to its promise and the road remained broken and drivers had to suffer difficulties.

Baba Jan, another driver on the route, told Pajhwok: “I left Rustaq district for the provincial capital Taloqan, it is the third time in one day that my car developed technical fault. The weather is hot and there is no mechanic in nearby areas. As one of my passengers was sick, I paid doubled money to bring a mechanic from another location to fix my car and we can reach our destination”.

He said it took sometimes hours to get the car repaired and reach the destination.

While criticizing the ex-government, he urged the current government to consider a solution to the problem.

Passengers narrated similar stories.

A passenger, Abdul Sami, who wanted to travel to Mawara-i-Kokcha region, said: “We left Taloqan city for Mawara-i-Kokcha area and in the half way our vehicle broke down and we had walk until we found another car”.

He said besides other deprivations, the people of the area were deprived of having a good asphalted road. He asked the government to pay attention to the problem.

Maulavi Amir Khan Huzaifa, the provincial Public Works Department head, told Pajhwok that the road to Marwa-i-Kokcha remained unpaved and asphalted  due to the previous government’s  lack of attention and the cancelation of work on big projects by the World Bank.

However, he said, the provincial administration has sent a letter about the reconstruction of the road and efforts are under way to solve the problem.

aw/ma

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