Deputy Prime Minister of the Afghan caretaker government Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar attends an inauguration ceremony of a water canal project in Balkh province, northern Afghanistan, March 30, 2022. Taliban-run administration on Wednesday inaugurated the first-ever major water canal project to irrigate thousands of hectares of land in the northern region. (Photo by Kawa Basharat/Xinhua)
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Taliban-run administration on Wednesday inaugurated the first-ever major water canal project to irrigate thousands of hectares of land in the northern region.
"This is a matter of happiness today that we inaugurate the Qushtipa water canal project. With the completion of this essential project our need for agricultural products would be largely solved," Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar said at the inauguration ceremony.
Baradar also noted that the Taliban-run administration would do its best to take the war-torn country towards self-sufficiency.
Fetching water from the Amu River, the Qushtipa water canal project, with a length of 285 km, was expected to facilitate water's flow from Kaldar district in Balkh to Qushtipa district of Jawzjan onward to Faryab, irrigating 550,000 hectares of land, according to officials.
Work on the project would be completed at a cost of 60 billion afghanis (680 million U.S. dollars) within five years, an official Riazudin Sharifi said.
"The completion of the Qushtipa project would help us to become independent in the food sector and its completion requires people's support," said the administration's chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.
"We are trying to stand on our feet and I am calling upon Afghan businessmen to join hands and rebuild the country together," the minister for commerce and industries Hajji Norodin Azizi said at the ceremony. ■
Photo taken on March 30, 2022 shows bulldozers at the site of a water canal project in Balkh province, northern Afghanistan.
Taliban-run administration on Wednesday inaugurated the first-ever major water canal project to irrigate thousands of hectares of land in the northern region. (Photo by Kawa Basharat/Xinhua)
Workers are seen during an inauguration ceremony of a water canal project in Balkh province, northern Afghanistan, March 30, 2022.
Taliban-run administration on Wednesday inaugurated the first-ever major water canal project to irrigate thousands of hectares of land in the northern region. (Photo by Kawa Basharat/Xinhua)