The Kabul municipality signed four contracts with a private firm to improve urban services amid deteriorating condition of the capital city the country with an unprecedented growth in population during the recent years.
The contracts were signed with an Arabic firm, Khatib & Alami, in the presence of the President of Afghanistan Dr. Ashraf Ghani. Acting Kabul mayor Abdullah Habibzai said the implementation of the projects would help improve urban services in the capital city besides providing job opportunities for almost a hundred thousand people. The contracts will mainly focus on arrangement of transportation services, establishment of bridges and roads, cleaning and maintenance of Kabul river, design and supervision of projects, and supervision of the construction of high rise buildings. Kabul is home to nearly 6 million people who have mainly shifted to the city following the fall of the Taliban regime. Originally designed for half a million inhabitants, Afghanistan’s sprawling capital city of Kabul now houses more than three million people which adds to the issues of municipality work and cleaning works as the population of the city is on the rise with people moving from provinces and villages to the city, mainly due to employment and work opportunities. Shortly after taking office as the new President of Afghanistan, President Ghani said a competent and qualified mayor is needed to transform capital Kabul into a standard city that should resemble with the other capital cities of the world. President Ghani admitted that the standards have not been considered in construction of roads and high rise buildings in the capital. He insisted that the mayor of capital Kabul should be appointed based on the election which should be conducted within the next two years. President Ghani said a tender will be requested on an international level for the implementation of master plan to modernize the Kabul city, where the international experts and successful mayors will be requested to share their expertise for the modernization of Kabul city. He also called on new generation and youths of the country to share experiences to establish a transparent administration and insisted that all government officials will remain for their responsibilities and activities.
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