Monday, September 22, 2014
Kabul (BNA) Two key roads were inaugurated at a ceremony last week to combat increasing traffic congestion in Kabul, which serves 200 times the number of vehicles it was designed for.
The 15-kilometre airport road and a 750-metre community road were officially opened by President Hamid Karzai, Kabul Mayor, Mohammad Younus Nawandish, Technical Deputy Mayor, Abdul Ahad Wahid, Ambassador of Japan to Afghanistan, Hiroshi Takahashi, JICA Senior Deputy Resident Representative, Masaya Fujimoto, and UNOPS Afghanistan Country Director, Mikko Lainejoki.
An estimated five million people live in Kabul – a city designed to accommodate only one-fifth of its current population.
Traffic congestion is becoming progressively worse as migrants, returnees and job seekers flock to the capital.
“According to the Kabul City Master Plan in 1978, the road system was planned for 3,000 vehicles. Right now, we have 700,000 vehicles in the city and every day we are adding 200 new ones,” said Kabul Mayor, Yunus Nawandish.
He added that many of the roads had also been blocked due to security reasons, which contributed to the traffic jams.
The road leading from Kabul International Airport will help alleviate congestion, facilitate trade, reduce road damage caused by heavy trucks driving through the city center, and improve access to markets and basic social services.
It has four underpasses to ensure the safety of pedestrians crossing the major thoroughfare.
“This road is one of the most important and high profile roads of Kabul. Most of the vehicles that come from the eastern border, especially from Pakistan, and want to go to the north or even to the west of Afghanistan, can use this road to avoid coming to the city center,” said Mr Nawandish.
In support of a larger programme to redevelop Kabul, Government of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) provided more than $31 million in funding to build the airport and community roads, in partnership with Kabul Municipality and implementing partner, UNOPS.
“This road that we call Mirza Abdul Qadir Bidal was funded by our Japanese friends. As the representative of the people of Kabul, I would like to take this opportunity to thank, from my heart, the Government and the people of Japan and JICA for their aid and assistance.
The Government of Japan has been developing the capacity of the Kabul Municipality and we are very grateful for it,” said Mayor Nawandish.
The airport road is part of the Kabul Metropolitan Development Plan, developed by JICA to address growing challenges in infrastructure, congestion, urban sprawl, transport, water and sanitation and population growth.
