World Bank pays USD 125 million for Construction of Rural Roads

Ministry of Finance signed a USD 124 million contract with the World Bank on Sunday to fund the construction of 1,300km road and about 1,600m bridges and culverts.

MoF’s Deputy Dr. Mustafa Mastoor said that the project will be carried out through the national road construction program, and it aims to preserve and maintain rural roads.

Wais Barmak, Minister of Public Works, and Najibullah Ozhan, Minister of Rural Development, were also present at the signing ceremony and spoke on the importance of roads for rural areas.

Ministry of Public Works and Ministry of Rural Development have each taken responsibility for the construction of secondary and tertiary roads respectively.

Mr. Barmak, with regards to his Ministry’s responsibility to construct tertiary roads, said that the 5 year budget for the project is not sufficient.

Road construction projects for the development of rural roads have been funded by the World Bank since the past 10 years.

According to the MoF, more than 10,000 km roads and about 77,000m bridges and culverts have been constructed since 2002.

Furthermore, officials from the Afghan government say that the government has been able to construct more than 10,500km secondary and tertiary roads all over the country.