KABUL (Pajhwok): The Ministry of Public Works (MoPW) says Afghanistan is currently connected by railways to Uzbekistan, Iran and Turkmenistan and 4.4 million tonnes of goods were transported via these routes last year.
As part of a programme outlining annual achievements of government entities, officials from MoPW presented its last solar year’s accomplishments today (Saturday).
At the press briefing, MoPW officials said Afghanistan was currently connected via railways lines to Uzbekistan, Iran and Turkmenistan, facilitating commercial transport.
Mohammad Ashraf Haqshenas, spokesman for MoPW, said Afghanistan was linked to the mentioned countries through a 396-kilometre railways line via Hairatan, Aqina, Torghundi and the Khaf-Herat routes.
He added that rail transport was also indirectly connected through these lines to countries such as China, Turkey, Russia and Kazakhstan.
He noted that 4.4 million tonnes of goods were transported last year through railways routes from the four ports of Hairatan, Torghundi, Aqina, and Rozanak.
This comes about a week after the foreign ministers of Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Works, Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Transport, and Pakistan’s Ministry of Railways regarding a feasibility study for the Trans-Afghan Railway project.
Meanwhile, Deputy Minister Maulvi Mohammad Ishaq Sahibzada said at the event that over the past year, the Ministry had initiated more than 200 construction and renovation projects related to roads, bridges, culverts, railway lines, maintenance and inspection, snow clearance, mosques, installation of traffic signs, and procurement of goods — most of which have now been completed.
He added that of these projects, 54 involved roads and railways, 16 related to the safety of highways and roads, 14 for mosques, 14 for snow clearance, 50 for road and railway maintenance and monitoring and 54 involved the procurement of goods.
Haqshenas said last year, the Ministry launched 45 road maintenance and rehabilitation projects with a total budget of over 3.1 billion afghanis. Of these, 35 projects have been completed, four are still underway, and the rest have been delayed due to various reasons.
He further explained that under these projects, more than 572 kilometres of roads, 971 metres of bridges, 323 culverts, 2,929 metres of roadside drainage channels, 3,710 metres of stone masonry for retaining walls, and 562 metres of concrete retaining walls have been repaired and reconstructed.
He added that the Ministry plans to initiate 50 new projects in the current year.
Also at the event, the Director of Survey and Design said that last year the design work for over 126 kilometres of roads was completed, while the design of 1,395 kilometres of roads is still in progress — 66 percent of which has already been carried out.
