Ghani wants control enhanced over projects

KABUL (Pajhwok): President Ashraf Ghani on Tuesday asked the Ministry of Public Works to enhance its control over national infrastructure development projects and their management and weekly report to him in this regard.

As part of his surprise visits to ministries and departments, Ghani visited the Public Works Ministry to assess its activities, a statement from the president spokesman’s office said.

Calling the control over national projects as week, Ghani insisted the Public Works Ministry should remain 90 percent technical and 10 percent managerial to effectively perform its real job of being technical.

Ghani assured the ministry of providing it all needed facilities. “Unfortunately, over the past 13 years little has been done on capacity building in areas of engineering and management, something necessary for projects management and maintenance,” he added.

The president underlined the need for coordination among the ministries of public works and the higher education in training engineering students at the Kabul and Polytechnic universities based on the country’s needs.

He insisted proper standards were needed for construction of the country’s roads. “We should no longer depend on others to plan, design and implement projects for us.”

Ghani asked the ministry officials to evolve an effective project management system and their financial sources to reduce construction costs.

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