There are different sorts of developments that are considered necessary for the people of a country at the present time. With the help of these developments the people are able to make their lives comfortable. And within a country, the government is mostly responsible to make these developments possible. In the modern and developed countries, where the governments are very active and responsible, the developments are very frequent and as per the requirements of the people, while in the underdeveloped and developing countries such developments are not found easily.
One of the developments that are considered very much important for today’s life is the construction and maintenance of roads. Through roads it is possible to connect different parts of the country and at the same time different parts of a village or city. This connection makes every part of the country accessible and thus supports the people in making their lives easier. Without proper networks of roads it is impossible to think of efficient and effective transportation. The networks of roads basically provide an infrastructure for different other types of developments that are necessary for a country.
Business is one of the factors that are highly dependent on well-maintained roads. The production companies have to transfer their products to different parts of the country and city, which is impossible without roads. The timely transfer of their products does not only bring them money but also assists the customers in fulfilling their needs on time. It is not always possible for all the businesses to transfer their products from one place to another through airplane, therefore the roads provide them an easier and cheaper means of transportation. Moreover, the businessmen and other official personnel have to travel to different countries and even different parts of the country usually; therefore, they would need the support of an effective transportation system equipped with healthy roads.
The roads are also very much useful in providing the people and making them avail the humanitarian services as well. It is very difficult to provide different types of services to the people who live in the remote areas of the country. They, because of no access to development works, are always far away from medical services, proper education, clean drinking water, electricity and even proper food to eat. As there are no roads that lead to them, they always suffer from dearth of basic requirements and government is not able to reach them and even know about them.
The roads are also very much necessary for bringing about beauty to a place and support people to have safe recreational journeys. It is really weird and unpleasant to find the roads that are broken and dusty. Moreover, the ugliness further increases in such roads when there is rain or overflow of drain water. Such conditions can cause different types of diseases as the drain water may remain on the roads for days and invite mosquitoes and other insects. In addition, the drain water, containing different types of bacteria, dries on the road and afterwards is blown in the air by passing vehicles and wind and becomes the stuff the people breath, which can cause different types of lungs diseases.
Afghanistan is one of the countries that are suffering from the lack of proper network of roads. There are many areas in the country that are not accessible through proper roads and people remain away from attention and proper services. Leave the other parts of the country aside, the condition of roads in the capital Kabul are pathetic as well. Anyone, who might have experienced travelling through different parts of the capital city, can witness the agony they face in such an experience. There are only few roads that are well-maintained while the rest are nothing but ancients remains that support dust more than vehicles and people.
It is really unfortunate to note that there have been funds dedicated to construct the roads in the capital but they have gone to the pockets of corruption. A recent report by Independent Media Consortium Productions (IMCP) reveals some astonishing allegation in the same regard. Some excerpts of the report about the findings of IMCP, published in Pajhwok Afghan News (by Kreshma Fakhri & Akbar Rustami) on July 20, 2013, will be very helpful to understand the corruption in this regard;
Only a fraction of Kabul’s streets are paved properly. The vast majority of roads appear much like potholes and dirt heaps, yet contractors regularly overshoot budgets.
The Kabul Municipality has accused the Turkish-owned Copy International and three Afghan firms -- Hewadwal, Latifi and Quyash Niazi -- of inflating road-construction costs.
Investigations by IMCP reveal that Quyash Niazi spent 4.43 million dollars to pave a 70 metre wide road in the west of Kabul but charged Kabul Municipality 7.2 million dollars. Copy International spent 16 million dollars on the road from the airport to Intercontinental Hotel, but collected 18 million dollars.
Documents submitted by Hewadwal show the cost of work on Qala Zaman Khan in the 16th district was 5.1 million dollars but Kabul municipality has disbursed 10.5 million dollars. Receipts and invoices also show that the cost of repair work for the 60 metre-Ahmad Shah Mena road in the 12th district through Bagrami executed by Latifi was 11 million dollars but Kabul municipality paid 12.95 million dollars.
Kabul Municipality has not taken action.
Kabul’s new mayor Mohammad Yunus Nawandish set aside the council of ministers’ decision to boycott the defaulting companies, and went ahead with awarding them new projects and pumping more funds into old contracts.
Some members of the parliamentary commission of transport, communications and municipalities’ affairs accuse the Kabul mayor of colluding with the companies and breaching the law.
Abdul Rahimzai, ex-deputy head of Urban Services, Kabul Municipality, accuses road contractors of using the worst quality asphalt. “Asphalted roads melt in the summer and are destroyed in the rain and snow in the winter. Roads don’t have drainage on the sides. A repaired road does not last more than six months,” he says.
If these allegations turn to be true, there has to be severe measures to stop corruption in this regard and make sure that the residents of Kabul city and the country as a whole must be given their right of access to proper network of roads – not access to the roads that spread diseases and make them sick.