World Bank to resume projects in Afghanistan, says Ministry

KABUL (TOLOnews): The Ministry of Finance said that the World Bank will resume around 45 incomplete projects in Afghanistan.
The payment for some projects which stopped following the collapse of the previous Afghan government will be completed by April 2024.
According to the spokesperson for the ministry, this will include CASA-1000.
“As the result of our two-year negotiations with the World Bank, they [World Bank] were interested in engaging and resuming their incomplete projects and payments for projects by April 2024. The bank has paid $24 million for CASA-1000,” said Ahmad Wali Haqmal, spokesman for the Ministry of Finance.
In the meantime, the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment said that the resumption of world bank-funded projects will help Afghanistan’s economic growth.
According to officials at the chamber, the World Bank was conducting projects of construction, roads, health, energy, and agriculture.
“In the health sector, the World Bank used to run the best projects, they were building hospitals and clinic. Except buildings for the Ministries of Defense, Interior and National Security, all other projects of the World Bank were in the sectors of health, education and economy,” said Khan Jan Alokozay, ACCI deputy head.
Economists suggested that the Islamic Emirate should make the conditions for other organizations such as the Asian Development Bank to resume their operations in Afghanistan.
“The resumption of projects by the World Bank means that our relations have become better with the world. We hope that the Asian Development Bank and USAID will also come to Afghanistan,” said Muhammad Nabi Afghan, economist.
“The return of the world’s economic organizations like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank will lead to an increase in economic activities in Afghanistan,” said Mir Shekib Mir, an economic analyst.
Earlier, the World Bank said that they had stopped over $4.5 million worth of projects in Afghanistan after the Islamic Emirate came to power in August 2021.