KABUL - Addressing the 4th Urban Conference in Kabul on Saturday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said Afghanistan’s urban areas were facing numerous challenges but that these issues need to be resolved. 
He said the water level in Kabul was a matter of concern and that there was a water management problem. He also noted that food security was a problem especially as the country relies so heavily on imports.
He said city councils should be established in order to oversee the purchase of food stuffs for their regions, so as to move away from relying on imports.
Ghanis said a system will be implemented to register all properties in the country on a single data base and that a land bank will be created in order to support this property registration system.
He also pledged to resolve the issue of land-grabbing and said government will confiscate all land that has been usurped illegally.
He said reforms will also be brought to municipalities and that mayoral elections will be held.
Touching on his upcoming trip to Uzbekistan, he said he will sign 14 agreements while in the neighboring country.  (Tolonews)