The Kabul Tribune (KT) — A Taliban spokesperson says dozens of road and railway projects have been launched across Afghanistan, with many already completed over the past year.
Hamdullah Fitrat, the Taliban’s deputy spokesperson, said
the Ministry of Public Works completed procurement processes for around 200
development, rehabilitation, maintenance and monitoring projects during 2024,
covering highways, roads, railways, bridges, culverts and the construction of
mosques along major routes.
In a post on X, Fitrat said implementation work on many of
the projects has already begun, while several others are currently underway.
According to him, projects launched during the year include
second-lane roads on the Kabul–Ghazni and Kabul–Jalalabad highways; 31
kilometers of road between Maidan Wardak and Logar; 51 kilometers of the
Qaisar–Laman ring road; 51 kilometers of the Qush Tepa–Darzab road; 19.6
kilometers of the Dasht-e-Archi–Kunduz road; 39.6 kilometers of the
Kandahar–Spin Boldak road; 30 kilometers of the Herat–Chisht-e-Sharif road; and
25 kilometers of the Balkh–Sheberghan road.
Fitrat also said a detailed survey and design of the
737-kilometer Herat–Kandahar railway line has been carried out, along with the
launch of the second phase of the fourth section of the 47-kilometer Khaf–Herat
railway line. In addition, construction began on eight arched mosques along the
Kandahar–Herat highway, one of which has been completed in Daman district of
Kandahar province and handed over to the Ministry of Hajj and Religious
Affairs.
He added that several memorandums of understanding have been
signed, including a $500 million investment agreement with Kazakhstan for the
Torghundi–Herat and Herat–Kandahar railway lines, a framework agreement between
Afghanistan and Turkmenistan for the expansion of Torghundi port, and a
trilateral memorandum among Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan on feasibility
studies for the Afghan-Trans project.
Fitrat said about 5.1 million metric tons of goods were
transported through Afghanistan’s four railway ports during 2024, compared with
4.3 million metric tons the previous year, marking an increase of 17.65
percent.
He further noted that most of the 54 development projects
launched in 2023 have now been completed, while others are still ongoing. These
include the 480-kilometer Kabul–Kandahar highway, nearly 30 kilometers of the
Salang highway, 10 kilometers of the Gardez–Zarghun road, 11 kilometers of the
Armalik–Laman road, and 24 kilometers of the second lane of the Kabul–Logar
road.
