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PANJSHIR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Panjshir Provincial Reconstruction Team engineers surveyed the final portion of the Panjshir Road in Paryan District, Afghanistan, May 3.
The PRT engineers conducted the survey to assess the possibility of finishing the Panjshir Road to connect Panjshir and Badakhshan Provinces.
“Completing the road to Badakhshan will contribute to the creation of a corridor of trade in a part of Afghanistan where there is currently no proper access to outside the country,” said PRT Director Bill Martin.
Construction of the road began in 2005 when the PRT arrived in Panjshir. The road begins in the southernmost part of the province in Shutol District on the border with Parwan province and is approximately 130 kilometers long. If the final section of road is paved to connect to Badakhshan province, the road through Panjshir province will be approximately 145 kilometers long.
“If this road is completed, the travel time through all of Panjshir to Badakhshan will be cut down from 24 to four hours,” said Abed Wardak, local national engineer with the PRT.
As the PRT engineers traveled to survey the potential road, they assessed the progress and construction of the current road.
“Up to this point, it's been quite a challenge because we're the first to come up here and do any type of paved roadway construction,” said U.S. Air Force 2nd Lt. Phil Compton, PRT deputy engineer. “It’s great to see this much progress because the previous roadway was so bad that we've had contractors lose equipment during construction just trying to move stuff up here.”
When surveying the potential road, the engineers assessed the expected cost of extending the road based on geographical features.
“Our survey included identifying the soil content, slopes and drainage so we can anticipate what the costs are going to be to hire a contractor to construct the roadway,” said Compton, from Doty, Wash.
If the road is determined to be necessary and funded, a local contractor will be hired to construct the road.
“This project will be good for Panjshir because there are many jobless people here, and this project will create jobs for people,” said Wardak.
All Panjshir PRT-funded construction projects require 70 percent of all unskilled labor to be hired within a 20-kilometer radius of the project.
“The road gives the unskilled laborers in the local area a chance to work under professionals and build new skills they can apply at home and in their villages,” said Compton.
As the road is being constructed, locals will have more job opportunities and once the road is completed, it will enable travel and future trade, he said.
“Some of these people depend on trade for their livelihood,” said Compton. “The completion of this road will give locals the opportunity to travel to neighboring provinces to trade in some of the bigger cities and bazaars north of Panjshir.”
| Date Taken: | 05.03.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 05.16.2011 16:52 |
| Story ID: | 70480 |
| Location: | PANJSHIR PROVINCE, AF |
| Web Views: | 146 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Panjshir PRT engineers survey road to Badakhshan, by Maj. Ashleigh Peck, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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