Afghanistan Transport Sector

Afghanistan faces the major challenge of post-war reconstruction after more than two decades of conflict that resulted in widespread suffering and the massive displacement of people, and destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure. The restoration of an efficient transport sector is essential to strengthen the unity of the country and promote economic recovery and development.

Challenges

Currently, Afghanistan has one of the worst road systems in the world, and no rail system.  Among landlocked developing countries, Afghanistan has one of the longest distances to a seaport, more than 2,000 km, over harsh terrain.  Huge portions of Afghan’s inhabitants remain physically cut-off. The major urban areas of Afghanistan are connected by a poorly maintained and partially destroyed ring road.  Afghanistan’s air transport industry is based on a weak institutional framework. In the absence of operational regulatory mechanisms, Afghanistan’s risk profile is unacceptable, and discourages international air carriers from identifying Afghanistan as a destination of choice.

Afghanistan needs to restore and rebuild its physical infrastructure and transport services to promote the country's economic recovery and help its people to avail of new social and economic opportunities.   The country faces the following major challenges:

• The weak capacity of the relevant ministries (Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation & Development)
• Insufficient and unreliable funding for the reconstruction and development of the transport system and inability to mobilize and manage the locally collected funds
• A poorly developed consulting and contracting industry,
• War – damaged roads and structures and significant deterioration due to lack of maintenance
• Large-scale deterioration of the civil aviation infrastructure and the shortage of a qualified workforce.

Regional military conflicts still exist in Afghanistan, mainly in the southern and eastern regions. Conflicts and weak security in the country are major constraints to reconstruction and development of road sector.

Key Government Strategies

During the last four years, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan has made significant efforts to tackle emergency reconstruction with major support from the international community. These include:

• Connecting Afghanistan's principal cities by reconstructing the ring road and other major roads, and ongoing work on rehabilitating international roads
• Ongoing repairs to provincial and district roads
• Preparation of a road master plan (Completed)
• Reconstructing the runway at  Kabul International Airport
• Reconstructing major roads in Kabul City
• Reconstructing and upgrading regional and provincial airports.
• Studies on railway links to neighboring countries.

In addition, Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) was prepared and it was presented to donors in London conference at the end of April 2006, which was supported by all donors. According to ANDS, the five year Transport Sector Strategic benchmarks include:

• Afghanistan will have a fully upgraded and maintained ring road, as well as roads connecting the ring road to neighboring countries by Jaddi 1387 (end-2008), and a fiscally sustainable system for road maintenance by Jaddi 1386 (end-2007).

• By Jaddi 1389 (end-2010): Kabul International Airport and Herat Airport will achieve full International Civil Aviation Organization compliance; Mazar-i-Sharif, Jalalabad and Kandahar airports will be upgraded with runway repairs, air navigation, fire and rescue and communications equipment; seven other domestic airports will be upgraded to facilitate domestic air transportation; and air transport services and costs will be increasingly competitive with international market standards and rates.

For more information on ANDS, please visit http://www.ands.gov.af/.

World Bank Support

Since early 2003, the World Bank has assisted critical projects by mobilizing technical support and financing.  Main activities include:

• The National Emergency Employment Program-1 (NEEP-1)

  National Emergency Employment Program, Phase I (NEEP-I) (US$52.82 million) evolved from the IDA Grant-funded Labor-Intensive Public Works (LIPW) Roads component of the Emergency Community Empowerment and Public Works Program. The project is aimed at assisting the government in providing employment in rural areas at a minimum wage, as a safety net, to as many people in as short a time as feasible, through rural access and irrigation rehabilitation sub-projects. Read More--

• Emergency Transport Rehabilitation Project: Reconstructing the critical highway from Kabul to Kunduz and the Tajikistan border, including the major Salang Tunnel. Also, reconstructing the runway at Kabul International Airport and providing navigation equipment to ensure safe air travel.
• National Emergency Employment Project: Repairing provincial and district roads through labor-intensive works.
• Emergency Customs Reform & Trade Facilitation Project: Improving key customs and other transit infrastructure.

The Bank will continue to support maintenance of the rehabilitated roads and civil aviation infrastructure in the post-emergency situation.