Govt to investigate companies’ locked money in banks

KABUL (Pajhwok): The cabinet discussed completion of infrastructure projects and appointed a delegation to investigate complaints companies whose money was blocked in the country’s banks during a meeting on Tuesday.

A statement from the Ministry of Information and Culture received by Pajhwok Afghan News said that the cabinet meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund in the Presidential Palace.

The meeting discussed economic situation of the country and completion of infrastructure projects and instructed an economic team to study the completion of Shah WaArus Dam and report their evaluation to the cabinet, the source said.

The dam is located in Shakardara district of Kabul. The government said last year that construction of the dam was almost completed. The dam has a storage capacity of 9.3 million cubic meters of water and the capacity to generate 1.5 megawatts of electricity.

The statement said that the cabinet appointed a high-level team to investigate the complaints of companies whose money has been blocked in the country’s banks and find a solution to the problem.

According to the source, the meeting also discussed activities of Population Registration Department and emphasized on the continuation of distribution of electronic ID cards. The meeting also decided to prepare a plan for conducting a census in the country.

According to reports, the last census in Afghanistan was conducted during the leadership of President Mohammad Daud Khan in 1979, in which only 360 percent of the country’s population was counted, the rest was estimated. The population of Afghanistan was estimated 13 to 14 million people that time. Afghanistan’s current population is estimated at about 33 million.

The statement from the Ministry of Information and Culture says that the meeting also discussed issues of drug addicts, management of foreign aid to Afghanistan, evaluation of the status of religious scholars and verification of their documents, projects and some other important issues.

However, the statement did not provide further details about the discussions.

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