‘Jam Minaret consolidation work will kick start soon’

FEROZKOH (Pajhwok): The consolidation work of the historic Jam Minaret in western Ghor province will start soon, an official said on Monday.

After the flow of floods in the surrounding areas to Jam Minaret, a government delegation was dispatched to the affected area for assessment.

Following the publication of a report about the impacts of floods on Jam Minaret on May 23 and the increased risk to the minaret’s safety due to the natural calamity, a delegation from Kabul was sent to Ghor to examine the condition and threat posed to the minaret.

Provincial Information and Culture director Mawlavi Abdul Hai Zaeem told Pajhwok Afghan News that the recent flash floods caused serious threat to the Jam Minaret.

Zaeem said: “The dispatched delegation to Ghor inspected the Jam Minaret closely and a decision was taken to clear the area from stones and sand piles brought by the water of floods.”

The delegation also said that even higher retaining walls would be built around the Minaret to secure it from more risks in future.

The flood water sank two meter of the minaret and more efforts are underway to prevent the further sediments of water.

Zaeem added that the floods not only caused risk to the Jam minaret but destroyed roads that link the Jam area to other places.

The Jam minaret is situated in Shahrak district in Kamanj area of Ghor province near the Harirud River and it is threatened annually by the water of floods.

The Jam Minaret of the second oldest and 63 metre high minaret after the Qutub Minar of India, built from bricks at the era of king Ghiyath al-Din Muhammad Ghori and it was registered with UNESCO heritage list in 2002.

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