KABUL - In latest move to support Afghanistan, the Embassy of Japan on Wednesday announced the handover of 106 different machineries to the Ministry of Public Works for road maintenance in 25 different locations in 12 provinces.

A statement from the Japan Embassy said that the Tokyo decided to provide additional machineries for seven locations in five provinces, including Saripul, Herat, Kapisa, Takhar and Samangan in order to enhance road maintenance capacity, especially against snowfall, avalanche, flood and other natural disasters.

The handover ceremony was attended by Mahmoud Baligh, Minister of Public Works and Hiroshi Takahashi, the Ambassador of Japan to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

The “Project for Improvement of Road Maintenance Capacity in Afghanistan” is executed with the partnership of Japanese International Cooperation System (JICS) with the total budget of $32 million USD.

As a result of the implementation, road maintenance capacity of these provinces such as Kabul, Maidan Wardak, Ghazni, Badakhshan, Badghis, Baghlan, Bamyan, Daikundi, Ghor, Logar, Paktia and Parwan would be significantly improved.

Speaking on the occasion, Hiroshi Takahashi, ambassador of Japan to Afghanistan, said: “The improvement of road maintenance by these machineries will stabilize the networking of transportation and movements of the people and promote the trade and products from rural areas to the main cities.

Takahashi said that Afghans would have also better access to the basic social services like hospitals, schools and markets and the economy, which would change social life of people for the much better.

In Afghanistan, most of rural roads including important national highways are not in good conditions. Such roads are easily damaged by natural disaster, such as landslide, avalanche.

On behalf of the people, government and particularly the Ministry of Public Works, “I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the people and the government of Japan. These machineries will help Ministry of Public works to improve the maintenance of highways in critical areas,” said Mahmoud Baligh, Minister of Public Works. (Pajhwok)