NSP implemented in 70pc of Afghanistan

KABUL): The National Solidarity Programme (NSP), which has been implemented in 70 percent of areas, will cover the whole country in the next two years, a senior official said on Monday.

Mohammad Tariq Ismati, the NSP executive director at the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, said the flagship project had benefitted 17 million people since its launch seven years ago.

In an exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News, he said 58,000 development projects have been initiated under the programme. Of them, 46,000 have already been executed.

Most of the schemes are aimed at constructing roads, supplying drinking water and electricity, infrastructure development, promoting education, building schools and arranging literacy courses.

Work on some NSP projects had to be suspended in certain areas because of insecurity, the executive director said, adding they planned to reach out to rural communities that were ignored in the past.

Funded by the World Bank, the NSP seeks to enhance the capacity of government departments at the rural level. Village development councils had an important role to play in this regard, the official said.

Village development councils identify projects for implementation based on residents’ requests, according to Ismati, who revealed 37,000 councils had been paid $910 million for executing different schemes.

Additionally, the director said, the village councils were given their share in the government’s development budget to execute a variety of uplift projects.

Donors have promised to provide the $1.5billion needed to fund the third phase of the NSP. The funds would be spent over the next five years, the official explained.

oh/mud

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