NEW YORK, NY - August 17, 2010
-- The first phase of a United Nations-funded project to pave and
improve the standard of roads around the southern Afghan city of
Kandahar has opened for public use, the UN mission to the country
reports.
The stretch of two-lane road in Kandahar was paved by
the Afghan public works department with support from the UN Human
Settlements Programme (
UN-Habitat),
UNAMA said
yesterday.
About 35 kilometres of road in and around Kandahar
are being paved or rehabilitated as part of the project, which is part
of the broader "hamkari" or international cooperation plan that aims to
boost security and enhance good governance in Afghanistan.
Nader
Shah Agha, UN-Habitat director in Kandahar, noted that "roads are
essential means of communication" in Afghanistan, where communities are
often isolated by poor transport links and insecurity caused by the
Taliban and other insurgent elements.