Nurgal residents collect money to build 12km road

ASADABAD (Pajhwok): Residents of Areet area in Nurgal district of eastern Kunar province have raised money to construct a 12-kilometer long road at their own cost.

Right now the Areet area has no road to link it with other parts of Kunar province.

Some residents of the valley said a local tribal council had decided to raise fund and construct the road.

A tribal elder Gull Omar told Pajhwok Afghan News that they wanted to build the road using their own money due to the negligence of the government.

Gull Omar said: “The area where we live is remote, mountainous and isolated area, most of the time we deliver patients on animals to health centres.”

He said they had raised their voice many times during the previous government, but their calls fell on deaf ears.

Amanatullah, another tribal elder, said some residents of the area even sold their household items and animals to pay for the construction of the road.

Amanatullah said: “We, the residents of this mountainous area, are very poor, but still they did what they could to construct the road, some women sold their jewelries for the road, which will be built soon.”

However, he said the road that passes through a mountain top needed machinery which the local people could not afford.

He asked the government and other aid organizations to provide them with road construction equipment.

Deputy administrative chief for Nurgal district Maulvi Abdul Malik said that Areet’s residents faced multiple challenges in the absence of a link road to other areas.

He said: “The roads to Shomash, Sohail Tangi and Ghazi Abad valley have also been constructed by the local people, now the people of Areet area want to take a similar step. We are trying to contact relevant authorities for assistance in this regard.”

Public Works Directorate officials said they were also trying to provide the people with construction machinery.

Public Works director Qari Qudratullah Moaz said: “We hail the efforts of the local people, what we can do is to provide them excavator and some other equipment.”

Like other parts of the country, most districts of Kunar province are deprived of development projects because of the past wars and their residents have been struggling with various challenges in this regard.

aw/ma