KABUL - The National Procurement Commission (NPC) has approved 20 contracts worth 5.5 billion afghanis, the Presidential Palace said in a statement on Sunday.
The statement said the NPC meeting that took place on Saturday evening at the Presidential Palace was presided over by President Ashraf Ghani.
In 30 areas, 11 framework contracts concerning regional and central security units, provincial police headquarters, public order, border police, special units, public protection and fuel and food for security forces under Ministry of Interior and airlifting of Army personnel were approved.
Other contracts approved were about the construction of a 11.9km road from the second Banu road in Baghlan province to Andarab district, a 7km road from Herat province’s Minarono area to Naqra village and a 2.5km road and two bridges between Argun and Gilan districts of Paktika province.
The contracts also included oil procurement for the maintenance of the Salang Tunnel.
The contract for railroad and road construction at the Aqina port was approved in principle under the condition that the existing observations were to be addressed and further explanation offered regarding the documents.
The NPC rejected a contract about the construction of a 51km road from northern Sar-i-Pul city to Shiberghan, the capital of Jawzjan province, due to incomplete legal standards. The contract had been proposed by the Public Works Ministry.
The Public Works Ministry was directed to approach a single source in case of emergency or benefit from strict bidding approach in the new procurement process.  The meeting ordered cancelled the ministry’s capacity verification.
The meeting also approved change in the timescale of the advisory company’s contract for rehabilitation of the Greskh dam and the power distribution network in Greshk city, as proposed by Da Afghanistan Bareshna Shirkat.
The president ordered all ministries and organization to pay serious attention to development projects during their implementation.
The meeting was attended by second vice-president Mohammad Sarwar Danish, finance, justice, economy ministers and several other officials.(Pajhwok)