KANDAHAR CITY - Provincial council members of southern Kandahar province say the Kandahar-Spin Boldak road construction is ongoing in violation of the contract, alleging corruption in the project.
The construction process on a parallel 80 kilometer road with the main Kandahar-Spin Boldak highway was launched a year back and the project is expected to complete in two years.
However, local officials and public representatives expressed concern over what they called poor quality construction of the road and said the project was not being implemented according to the contract.
Haji Sayed Jan Khakrizwal, Kandahar provincial council head, told Pajhwok Afghan News that according to information they had obtained the construction process of Kandahar-Spin Boldak road was not going as per the contract conditions.
He alleged corruption in the project but provided no further details. Khakrizwal stressed the provincial council should continuously oversee the project implementation.
He said they have also shared the issue during a weekly meeting with the local administration.
Kandahar public works department director, Eng. Sabir Ahmadzai acknowledged that standards were not observed during implementation of road projects and as a result potholes started appearing soon.
He said he has repeatedly warned contractors to be careful about the quality of their work but the warning did not yield any results.
Ahmadzai said it was their duty to observe implementation of all road construction projects in the province and take legal action against companies who violate standards.
Kandahar governor’s spokesman, Aziz Ahmad Azizi said the governor after receiving complaints about Kandahar-Sping Boldak road has ordered all relevant organs to suspend companies which did not implement projects according to their contracts.
He called corruption in constructional projects a major crime and said violators would be taken to justice.
This road construction project contract was awarded to two companies so each one would complete half of its part against 1.3 and 1.2 billion afghanis.
The budget of the project is paid by the Ministry of Public Works. (Pajhwok)