Paron-Kunar road construction continues as per contract

PARON (Pajhwok): the governor of eastern Nurstain province says the Paron-Kunar highway is being constructed as per the contract and no changes would be made in the road’s width.

Two days back, SaadullahPaindazoi, head of the Nuristan provincial council, told Pajhwok Afghan News the Paron-Kunar highway was being constructed in violation of the contract.

He had said that based on the contract, the asphalt of the road should be nine centimetres thick but a new plan was created that its thickness would be seven centimetres.

Thin asphalt on the road would not resist heavy snowfalls in Nuristan and it may destroy very fast, he had said.

Paindazoi said there were 18 points of avalanches on the highway, but no retaining wall was being constructed along the route.

However, Nuristan governor Hafiz Abdul Qayum told Pajhwok today that all processes of the road would continue in accordance with the contract and plan.

“Based on the contract, the width of the road is six meters and the thickness of asphalt is nine centimetres, but later a decision was made to expand the width of the road to seven meters and the thickness of the asphalt to seven centimetres,” he said.

He also said that the seven centimetres of asphalt would not resist nine months of snow season in Nuristan province.

“We shared the matter with the ministry, the president is also aware of it, the ministry has accepted seven meters width of the road and nine centimetres asphalt and promised to pay extra charges to the company,” he said.

He added that efforts were on to complete construction of the highway on time. “Nuristan is a mountainous province, construction of road is a little difficult because the rock cutting is performed with bombs, but we are still trying to complete the project in the remaining three months,” he said.

Kunar-Paronroad, which is 22.7 kilometers long and six meters wide, started a year and nine months ago and is expected to complete in two years.

The road’s development and cutting of mountains on the route has been 75 percent completed.

Mds/ma