ORUZGAN, Afghanistan – The village bazaar in Sarab, Shahid-e Hassas District has re-established its role as a center of economic growth and activity due to current refurbishment projects in the area.
After sitting vacant for nearly five years local merchants are venturing back to the area to occupy more of the bazaar’s 110 storefronts. With advice and assistance from coalition civil affairs representatives, more than 20 shops are currently open for business with additional shops joining the fold each day and at least 25 more businesses preparing to open soon.
“A shop owner in Keshay bazaar [previously the only open bazaar in Tagaw Valley] told us that he wants to move his shop to Sarab because he thinks business will be better. Also, a doctor who has a private practice in Tarin Kowt put a retainer on three storefronts in the bazaar so he can open a clinic here,” a Special Operations Task Force - Southeast Civil Affairs team leader said. “I would expect that eventually all the shops will be repaired and opened for business.”
In order to encourage local merchants to open businesses in the bazaar the civil affairs team worked closely with the acting district chief and local Maliks to spread the word about the refurbishment project. Many shop owners were reluctant to start businesses in the poorly maintained area without assistance. Through further engagements with the potential shop owners and local leaders, they became more willing to take an active role in the restoration process.
Although the local district chief provided incentives to prospective vendors, such as allowing them to move into unoccupied storefronts for two months rent free barring its owner returning during that time, he was adamant that no merchant would receive aid from the Afghan government or the U.S. without meeting certain conditions.
The first condition was for all area villages to return to the shura system, the traditional form of representative government, a practice dissolved under Taliban rule. The other condition was that shop owners had to begin the process on their own by cleaning the streets in front of their shops and moving in regardless of the lack of basic infrastructure such as doors or walls.
“One welder had his shop completely destroyed, yet opened for business anyway,” the CA team leader said. “Upon receiving his door and cement he started building walls to his shop.”
As other storekeepers witnessed the owners who opened shops receive doors and cement they chose to participate in the revitalization process as well. To date, the U.S. has donated 50 steel doors and 150 bags of cement to the bazaar vendors who then made their own repairs. The plan was never to build a new bazaar but to encourage those who have shops to start using those shops again, the CA team leader said.
“It has been our goal since the beginning not to give away anything that the people could get for themselves,” he said. “The Afghan people had to do the majority of the work and that is why it was a successful project.”
With noticeable improvements made throughout the bazaar, such as the newly constructed water tower, more additions are in the works. Future projects include a community trash burning pit and the removal of the rubble that litters the common areas, the team leader said. The bazaar will also be home to a governance center and an Afghan Uniform Police headquarters.
“The Sarab bazaar is humble, but it is an Afghan bazaar created with Afghan hands with a small boost from U.S. dollars,” the team leader said. “They will remember this bazaar as the bazaar that they built, not as the bazaar that the Americans gave them.”
| Date Taken: |
02.11.2011 |
| Date Posted: |
02.13.2011 04:33 |
| Story ID: |
65353 |
| Location: |
SHAHID-E HASSAS, AF |
| Web Views: |
58 |
| Downloads: |
0 |
PUBLIC DOMAIN
Subscribe
