JALALABAD - The Japanese government on Wednesday pledged $5 million (394,000,000 afs) in assistance to the eastern province of Nangarhar for 13 construction projects, officials said.
An agreement to the effect was inked between Governor Gul Agha Sherzai and an official of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Yoshiaki Yamada, said the governor's spokesman.

Ahmad Zia Abdulzai told Pajhwok Afghan News the schemes, including roads, schools, health clinics, small dams and canals, would be launched in the Sarkhrod and Behsud districts.
Families that recently returned from Pakistan would be the main beneficiaries of the projects, he said.

The governor's office had put in place better arrangements for the projects, enabling the JICA to extend its construction efforts to other parts of the province, he added.
According to local officials, JICA implemented 19 projects worth $6 million last year in the province.

Elsewhere, work on a water dam and a canal has been launched in the Koz Kunar district by a Japanese organisation, PMS. The $3 million projects would benefit 2007 families and irrigate 3,000 hectors of land, said Mohammad Hanif Gariwal, the deputy governor.