KHOST CITY (SW): Civil society activists in Khost province claim a bulk of development projects executed here are substandard.
In conversation with Salam Watandar, two Khost residents Noor Mohammad Khan and Gul Wazir, said the officials are rushing through many development projects without striving to ensure quality of these projects. They also urged upon the government to expedite the monitoring and evaluation of projects to ensure they comply with set standards of quality.
The Khost residents cited some examples of such substandard development projects including the Khost Airport, the Mata Chene Bridge, the Farm Garden and many others that deteriorated soon after they were built.
Blaming the provincial administration for the poor implementation of the development projects, Kafil Rehan, chairman of the provincial council, said the public representatives are often kept in the dark about these projects in a deliberate bid to hide corruption. He went on to charge the provincial officials of extorting a share for personal gains from the development budget.
Hameedullah, head of a private construction firm Alaska in Khost, claimed the reason behind poor quality of development work is the sub-contracting of projects. He said his company gets many contracts for the development projects in the capital Kabul rather than Khost itself.
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