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Rebuilding Afghanistan

Weekly Activity Update for June 12 - June 18
Issue #90

Construction of Bagrami Industrial Park. Open trench water line, small buildings holding electrical and phone utilities are shown.

The damage to the retaining wall is shown following flash food.

Project staff meet with community members to find a solution to repair the project.

Industrial Park Construction Underway

USAID funded construction of Industrial Parks in Kabul, Kandahar and Mazar-i Sharif continues at each project site. In Kabul, major design work, including survey processes and the design of all infrastructure, is completed. Contracts for the related sectors have been awarded. Construction activities are estimated to be 75% complete, with land preparation work, sewage system, interior water system and communication construction work nearly 100% complete.

In Kandahar, design work is approximately 80% complete. The designs of the land preparation, roads, sidewalks and sewage system are complete, and the design for electricity is underway and expected to be completed soon. Sixty percent of contracts have been awarded to date. Site preparation and securing the area is well underway. A monitoring team visited the project site last week and found that the surface runoff channel and ditch which were started in late March are about 90% complete. Site leveling and preparation are in progress.

In Mazar-i Sharif, design work is 40% complete and contracts have been awarded for 20% of the work. According to the site monitoring reports, excavation and concrete foundation are completed, and stone masonry work is underway.

Strengthening Local Governance

A recent flash flood, by some accounts the largest on record, caused damage to one portion of the stone masonry of a USAID-supported retaining wall in Khost province. The flood came in early May, just one week after the wall was completed. Upon completion of the project, maintenance and repairs become the responsibility of the beneficiary community.

However, thanks to good cooperation with the community and the very recent completion of the project, USAID’s implementing partner was dispatched to the site to assess the damage. After extensive dialogue with community elders and shura, it was agreed that the wall would be repaired according to a new design. To prevent a reoccurrence of the damage caused by the flood, the section of the retaining wall that extended furthest into the river bed was re-designed. This 10m length of wall will be reinforced with an additional 50cm of stone masonry to strengthen the wall in case of similar floods in the future. The community agreed to provide labor and additional stone and mortar while USAID’s partner will provide technical expertise and monitoring. The acceptance on behalf of the community to repair the damage is a positive sign that they are taking responsibility for project maintenance and ownership. This will ensure that the project meets its objective of protecting farm land and crops for years to come.

Media Development to Strengthen Civil Society

Sayara, a USAID-supported media NGO held its second national university journalism student convention in late May. Almost 100 students from various universities participated in the 3-day event. During the convention, the students considered such issues as Afghans taking control of Afghanistan’s future, the role of the media in Afghan democracy, and goals for Afghanistan to achieve by 2005.

Pajhwok, a USAID-supported national news agency, recently secured a two year subscription contract from the Combined Forces Command. This is in addition to other newly signed contracts with Azadi newspaper, World Bank, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and the Canadian Embassy. To date, the news agency has received $5300, has unpaid contracts worth $36,803, and has signed agreements for a monthly income of $8983.

In addition, in late May the Afghan National Television switched over to a new digital system. The conversion from analog to a digital system took two years and was finalized with financial assistance of $7.4 million from the Government of Japan. Additionally, according to the state-owned newspaper Anis, the Italian government just inaugurated an Internet centre for Radio and Television worth US $1.4 million.

Security Incidents

• Number of Hostile Attacks: During this reporting period, there were 24 hostile attacks resulting in three deaths and six injuries.
• USAID Related: During this reporting period, there were six hostile attacks directly affecting USAID related projects and/or staff. There were 18 attacks against other aid agencies and NGOs.
• Last Attacks: On Saturday 18 June at 2230 hours at night a grenade was thrown into a private home that was used as a classroom by Development and Humanitarian Services for Afghanistan (DHSA) to conduct Accelerated Learning (AL) classes for girls. Although no classes were taking place at the time, two children who were in the room were injured in the attack. The two children were treated in Khost Hospital; one is still undergoing treatment. Coalition Forces were informed about the attack and came to the area.  On the same night two further grenade attacks took place against government schools in the same area.

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