15 irrigation canals in Baghlan, Kabul being rebuilt

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) on Wednesday said 15 irrigation canals would be reconstructed in northe Baghlan province and capital Kabul until the end of current year.

Contracts for the canals’ reconstruction projects were signed on Wednesday between the MAIL minister and a number of domestic construction companies.

Minister Asadullah Zamir said 10 canals would be reconstructed in Baghlan-i-Jadid district of Baghlan and its provincial capital, Pul-i-Khumri.

Five other canals would be rebuilt in Bagrami and Chahar Asiab districts of Kabul, he said. The projects would cost 98 million afghanis from the ministry’s development budget, Azmir added.

The projects would help cover 1,800 acres of irrigation land and help 13,000 families benefit from the facilities, he said.

Kabul Goveor Hamid Ikram, who was present at the contracts’ signing ceremony, said despite some security problems, the implementation of a large number of development projects, particularly reconstruction of irrigation canals, was good news for people.

“Although our farmers lack education, they obtain food from the heart of land, our experts should launch projects based on farmers’ demands,” he said.

Ikram said Kabul was suffering from imbalanced development, stressing that all the districts should be paid equal attention.

He asked the agriculture minister to give a role to women in implantation of the projects so they could improve their families economic condition.

mds/ma