KABUL - A United Arab Emirates (UAE) company would invest $10 million to establish laboratories at Afghan dry ports to control the quality of petroleum products, an official said on Sunday. A contract to the effect had already been signed between the Afghan National Standards Authority (ANSA) and the UAE firm, Geo Chem Middle East, ANSA deputy director Mujeebur Rahman Khateer told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Under the contract, the UAE firm would invest $10 million over next four years to establish laboratories at Hairatan, Herat, Sher Khan, Nimroz and Aqina dry ports to control petroleum products' quality, he said.
Khateer added income generated from the use of the proposed labs would go to the firm for five years under ANSA observation.

He said the firm was obliged, under the accord, to handover the laboratories and the trained Afghan workers to ANSA at the end of the five year period. ANSA had established two such facilities in Faryab and Balkh provinces, but their capacity has been low.

Khateer said the current lab at the Hairatan port in Balkh would be transferred to Kabul after it was replaced with a new unit.
Dealers and customers have long been complaining about the import of low quality petroleum products into Afghanistan, blaming the government for not paying attention to the problem. (Pajhwok)