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MEASURE TWICE, CUT ONCE
A PLAN FOR THE LONG-TERM MANAGEMENT
OF THE RECONSTRUCTION OF AFGHANISTAN
DISCUSSION PAPER
Canadian Engineers for the Reconstruction of Afghanistan
(CERA)
APRIL 2002
DEDICATED TO THE RECONSTRUCTION OF
AFGHANISTAN
CERA is a non-profit, non-governmental organization
dedicated to the Reconstruction of Afghanistan. It is an
organization of volunteering engineers and professionals
with a full range of expertise in reconstruction.
For more details on CERA contact:
Chairpersons: Mohan Rao (mohan.rao@sympatico.ca) and
Qaseem Naimi (mqnaimi@yahoo.com).
CERA Secretariat: Peter Aikat (peter.aikat@dfait-maeci.gc.ca)
and Adam.Lenskyj (Adam.Lenskyj@mbs.gov.on.ca)
Organization development: Omar Zakhilwal (Omar.Zakhilwal@statcan.ca)
Needs Assessment: Martin Soutter (martin.soutter@sympatico.ca)
Volunteer Roster: Mohan Rao(mohan.rao@sympatico.ca)
Project Development: David Crenna (bayswatr@istar.ca)
CERA Web site: http://pathcom.com/alenskyj/
CONTENTS
1. Introduction/Page 1
2. Tasks Ahead/Page 6
3. Current Situation on the Ground/Page 9
4. Principles of Reconstruction and
Development/Page 10
5. Regulating Reconstruction/Page 16
6. Preserving/Recovery of the
Heritage/Page 19
7. Long-term Follow-up and
Monitoring/Page36MEASURE TWICE, CUT ONCE
A PLAN FOR THE LONG-TERM MANAGEMENT
OF THE RECONSTRUCTION OF AFGHANISTAN
1. INTRODUCTION
Afghanistan, a country in transition
Afghanistan is a war-torn country with a history of two
decades of conflicts, years of severe drought, an oppressive
regime, an endemic drug trade, and a massive displacement of
millions of people due to conflicts. Geographically, it is
the size of Texas, covered with mountain ranges and valleys.
It is land-locked, surrounded by three countries to the
north (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan), one on the
West (Iran), one on the East (China), and one in the south
(Pakistan). Culturally, the country is mostly rural, with a
few urban centers, such as Kabul, Mazar-e-Sheriff, Herat and
Kandahar. Per capita income is about $800. Only 12% of the
land is arable, with a flourishing industry of opium, wheat,
fruits and nuts, wool and mutton. There are a number of
mineral and energy resources including natural gas and
petroleum, and small-scale industries involving metallurgy,
carpet making, stonework, fertilizer and cement.
The country became a pawn in the power struggle between
the Soviet Union and the United States during the cold war.
The U.S. funneled modern armaments to the Afghan resistance
movement led by mujahedeens against the Soviet
invasion in 1979, amounting to 6-9 B$ by one estimate. The
Soviets left the country after defeat at the hand of the
mujahedeens leaving Afghanistan as a scorched earth.
Following the withdrawal of the Soviets in 1989, a civil war
began with various tribes fighting each other for control
with the arms that proliferated among these tribes during
the war with the Soviets. The Taliban, with support
from Pakistan succeeded in establishing a new regime in most
of Afghanistan by 1996. This regime with a policy of
repression brought the country to a state of economic and
cultural ruin in a matter of a few years. Most suffered were
the women, who were barred from education and employment.
Destruction of the enormous Buddhist statues from second and
fifth centuries A.D. in Bamian by the Taliban is well known.
The regime allowed Al-Qaida, a Saudi-based terrorist
organization to establish training camps, led by Osama bin
Laden, a Saudi dissident. Bin Laden became the prime suspect
in the World Trade Centre Attack on September 11, 2001. This
led Afghanistan to a full-scale war with the U.S. The U.S.
led a coalition of countries in its attack on Afghanistan.
Extensive bombing led to further destruction of the
country’s infrastructure and resulted in displacement of
millions of people. Although most of the hostilities have
ceased, and an interim government has replaced the Taliban
regime, the situation on the ground is still far from
secure.
Rebuilding Afghanistan
The poverty and war in Afghanistan was not a failure of
development. It was a failure of politics. Development does
not have a chance when the forces of deconstruction such as
war, and oppressiveness of the ruling class are the norm,
which was the lot of Afghanistan for two decades. The
country suffers from high illiteracy (70% are illiterate),
high infant mortality (one in six die as infants), a low
life expectancy (45 years), and grinding poverty.
Afghanistan is unable to help itself without the infusion of
massive foreign aid. Now that the hostilities have ceased,
and an interim administration has been put in charge,
development efforts can start to bring Afghanistan to some
degree of normalcy.
The international community is committed to provide the
necessary financial support to the cash-strapped country,
and provide advice on having necessary policy,
institutional, macro-economic, fiscal and environmental
frameworks in place. Together with donor governments,
non-governmental organizations and the private sector, the
international community should provide long-term
reconstruction assistance to Afghanistan.
Afghanistan needs to be rebuilt by Afghans themselves. No
one else understands their needs as much as they do. Local
values and experience could lead to different
interpretations of the same information and advice. Seeing
development through Western eyes, rather than Afghan eyes,
would distort the needed outcome, some to the utter
disadvantage and dislike of Afghans.
The Afghan Interim Administration (AIA) has committed
itself to the recovery and reconstruction of Afghanistan. It
has also committed to co-operate with all partners, the
communities, the non-governmental organizations, the
international agencies and the private sector. Recovery and
reconstruction is expected to be the starting point in
putting the country on a course of growth that is urgently
needed to lift the country out of poverty.
Afghanistan has to ensure that the chosen course of
recovery and reconstruction is indeed sustainable and in the
best interests of the country. “Growth for the sake of
growth is the ideology of a cancer cell”, says environmental
writer Edward Abbey. Unbridled growth can fast outstrip
natural resources, destroy the environment and be
counterproductive in the long term. Afghanistan should focus
on balancing growth, on the one hand, with social needs to
pull itself out of poverty, and on the other, with
ecosystem’s sustainability in achieving the needed growth.
Any development that crosses the threshold of ecosystem’s
capacity, starts to draw on the resource base itself in a
non-sustainable way, ultimately ‘killing the goose that lays
the golden egg.’
While basic needs such as food, shelter and health care
are to be satisfied and poverty has to be reduced from its
grinding levels, every attempt should be made to prevent
growth from leading to destructive consumerism and economic
patterns of life that the developed countries are now trying
to wean themselves out of. Reconstruction of Afghanistan
should focus on people and their cultural values as much as
on infrastructure and technologies.
There may not be perfect solutions in an imperfect
Afghanistan. But the country will have to move on, to deal
with its conflicts and uncertainties, and meet the pressures
of its people, for food, shelter and other basic necessities
of life, such as education for its young, and health and
safety of its people. Any reconstruction needs to align
itself to these basic needs.
International Commitment
The UN Security Council resolution 1378 provides the
opportunity and framework for the reconstruction of
Afghanistan. The Asian Development Bank, the United Nations
Development Programme, and the World Bank carried out an
assessment of post-war Afghan needs that was presented at
the Tokyo meeting of January 21-22 of international
ministers. An initial pledge of 4.5 B$ was made to the
Interim Government in Afghanistan by various donor countries
for the initial startup of Afghan reconstruction. There is
an awareness in the international community that much more
will be needed in the future and that they will be asked to
pledge more sums of money as reconstruction progresses.
Total estimates could be as high as 18 B$. Canada has
pledged 100 M$ of new aid to Afghanistan as part of this
process, in addition to 16.5 M$ of aid already provided. Of
this 30 M$ has been assigned for the year 2002 and the
remaining money is expected to be provided in 2003 when the
country is expected to be better prepared for investment
after it receives the initial relief needed for
reconstruction. The Afghanistan Government (currently Afghan
Interim Administration, AIA), together with the help of
non-governmental organizations, international development
agencies, and the private sector investors is expected to
take on the challenge of rebuilding Afghanistan. The AIA,
the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme and
the Asian Development Bank are joining forces with various
donor countries in preparing emergency projects
(rehabilitation of refugees, repairs to infrastructure etc)
for immediate relief to the Afghanistan people. A team from
the International Monetary Fund is assisting Afghanistan in
putting the macro-economic and fiscal aspects in order.
The reconstruction of Afghanistan is made difficult by
the lack of physical security, threat of violence, presence
of land mines and unexploded ordnances, and lack of systems
of governance. It is expected that it may take one to two
years to achieve a state of stability and peace for major
reconstruction activities to start. Rehabilitation of
displaced people by shelter construction and by putting in
place basic needs, such as water supplies, roads and
sanitation, is the foremost priority that is engaging most
relief agencies in Afghanistan.
Sustainable development
Problems of poverty cannot be solved without development
and without an era of growth in Afghanistan. However,
development and reconstruction on a large scale as is
necessary in Afghanistan needs to be taken up in a
systematic manner. Any patch-quilt type of solutions runs
the risk of being counterproductive.
Development and reconstruction should follow
internationally accepted principles of sustainable
development and conservation. It should aim to meet current
Afghanistan’s needs without compromising on its future
needs. It should aim to promote values that are ecologically
sustainable in meeting its essential needs and in achieving
its full growth potential. Development and reconstruction
activities should be kept in harmony with the productive
potential of the Afghan ecosystem. Natural systems such as
the atmosphere, water resources, soils and life systems,
plant and animal species should not be endangered.
Development and reconstruction projects should not leave out
the costs of environmental sustainability.
Environment and reconstruction are inextricably linked.
Environmental impact assessment programs, such as those
practiced in most developed countries, should become an
integral component of the long-term planning process in
Afghanistan.
No reconstruction would be truly justifiable if the
environmental costs are not taken into account and remedial
actions are not implemented. Development should overall
leave Afghanistan much better than before, in all aspects,
including its natural environmental heritage. There is no
single recipe for sustainability. Afghanistan will have to
work out its own policies and strategies to ensure success
and will have to institute its own programs for follow-up
and monitoring of its environmental objectives as
reconstruction moves forward. Simple duplication of
approaches used in industrialized countries would be a
mistake for Afghanistan.
Often, development is a balancing act. No development is
truly impact-free and any adverse environmental effects need
to be remedied so that environmental sustainability in the
long-term is not jeopardized. Development and reconstruction
are fundamental to Afghanistan’s recovery. Without
development, poverty would continue to wreak havoc in
Afghanistan, with its inevitable impacts on the environment,
such as overuse of agricultural land, overgrazing of
livestock, cutting of forests for fuel, unmitigated
pollution of air and water, and problems such as
overcrowding, lack of health and nutrition, and decay of
urban and human living environments.
Development and reconstruction is about care. It is about
caring to ensure that the right things are done, and that
the things are done right. There is little room for
mistakes. As much as there is a need for proper planning,
there is also a need for attention to detail and learning
from past mistakes. There is a need for caution and as we
have labeled it here, a need to measure twice but cut
once.
Purpose and Focus of the Report
The purpose of this report is to provide a framework for
the reconstruction of Afghanistan primarily from an
engineering perspective. Reconstruction by definition
implies rebuilding a country in every way, a country that
virtually collapsed after two decades of war, and years of
rule by an oppressive regime that brought it to economic
ruin. Reconstruction covers a wide range of areas covering
social, security, fiscal, legal, economic and cultural
reconstruction of the country. An engineering perspective of
that task limits itself to the reconstruction effort that is
primarily focused to civil reconstruction of public works
and destroyed resources that makes up a key part of the
nation’s destroyed physical infrastructure.
Undoubtedly, engineering reconstruction cannot carry
itself out in isolation, and will need to be fully
harmonized with all the key elements of the country’s
overall reconstruction program. We also need to recognize
that there are intangibles, even in engineering tasks,
factors that need to be reviewed in a non-monetary sense,
such as social acceptance, and protection of Afghanistan’s
natural heritage and wildlife. Engineering reconstruction
should leave Afghanistan much better than it found itself in
after the war, not in mere economic terms but in terms of
factors such as social justice, fairness, and
intergenerational equity.
The focus of this report is to discuss policy directions
for the reconstruction of Afghanistan in what essentially is
its engineering component. The proposals deal with a number
of development issues, many of which are spiked with
dilemmas and uncertainties. But such things are the root and
branch of policy-making. It is the collective thinking that
needs to be brought to bear in reviewing these proposals at
all levels including the general public in Afghanistan who
would be the primary recipients of the benefits (as well as
costs unfortunately) that may arise from the development and
reconstruction. What is provided here is the ‘fodder’ for
such discussion. Only the process of consultation when
complete will hopefully provide the elements of final
direction to move ahead.
2. TASKS AHEAD
Canadian Engineers for the Reconstruction of Afghanistan
(CERA), a non-profit, non-governmental organization of
volunteering engineers and professionals, founded in Canada
on February 28, 2002, took upon the task of reviewing the
long-term needs of Afghanistan with a view to support the
Afghanistan people over the long-term. It focused on the
engineering needs of the country’s infrastructure and long
term planning required to recover it. CERA is currently
exploring ways and means of contributing to the
international effort on reconstruction.
Although many agencies are currently helping in the
rehabilitation efforts, CERA notes that there is a dearth of
planning, organization and political will in the
international community to stick around for the long-term
reconstruction of Afghanistan.
CERA is doing exactly that, trying to fill this gap:
planning for the long term for rebuilding Afghanistan.
Efforts by CERA include: developing sustainable long-term
plans for use in Afghanistan, such as infrastructure,
regulation and environmental models for use by Afghanistan’s
decision-makers; developing a state-of-the-art web site of
planning information to link our thinking with the Afghan
Diaspora at large, its professionals on the ground in
Afghanistan, and with various like-minded agencies involved
in the reconstruction of Afghanistan; supporting Afghan
professionals directly on the ground and try to take care of
their professional needs in terms of mentoring and providing
engineering and technical information appropriate to that
country. CERA has formed strategic partnership with the
Afghan Association of Ontario (AAO), hundreds of Afghan
expatriate members of which are preparing to return to their
homeland and take part in the reconstruction. CERA assists
in the transfer of technologies, knowledge, codes and
standards, all of which are crucial for the reconstruction
of Afghanistan.
The essential needs of the people of Afghanistan - food,
clothing, homes and
employment - are the immediate priority. But beyond these
basic needs, CERA realizes that Afghans aspire to improve
their quality of life and that can only be achieved by
careful planning of Afghanistan's economy and industry. That
future however must be built to be more just, more secure
and more sustainable than the unfortunate past of
Afghanistan in the last two decades. It must be built with a
sense of future planning, long-term vision for Afghanistan,
a task that has to be ultimately grown and nurtured on its
own soil, and cannot be transplanted by outside agencies,
however unbridled the enthusiasm be for doing it for them.
The reconstruction tasks for Afghanistan have a long time
horizon. Rome was not built in a day and Afghanistan can't
be rebuilt overnight. These tasks will take the timeframe of
a generation. What Afghanistan needs now is a realistic
framework for its rebuilding, compatible with its needs as
it moves from the aftermath of the war to become a developed
nation with peace and stability, and a reasonable quality of
life for Afghans and their children.
A cursory view of the tasks ahead is given below. CERA
plans to hold consultations with Afghan communities,
academia and the AIA in Afghanistan, obtain first hand
knowledge of the situation on the ground by visits to
Afghanistan, and refine its task list in the days and months
ahead. Such a list will then provide a detailed framework
for the long-term planners in Afghanistan. With the policy
directions discussed in this document, planners can then
identify priorities, determine strategic areas that need
evaluation, develop a plan of action for the long-term
reconstruction and establish timelines for their completion.
Short-term, 1-2 years
In the short-term (1 to 2 years) the focus is on
rehabilitating the damaged infrastructure, such as
buildings, bridges and essential services. The country is
the most heavily mined country in the world. There are
200,000 mine survivors with an injury rate running at
100-300 per month. De-mining and removal of unexploded
ordnances is a front-line priority for Afghanistan. The
presence of mines impedes short-term measures for
rehabilitating displaced persons and agriculture. The United
Nations and Non-governmental organizations are currently
engaged in de-mining activities. There are collapsed
bridges, destroyed roads and pavements, culverts, tunnels
and inter-city highways. These require immediate repair to
allow critical food supplies to reach various parts of the
country. Water systems in urban centers need to be brought
back to working condition, and access to safe water in rural
areas need to be reestablished wherever they have been
destroyed.
Afghanistan had a nominal installed capacity of 500 MW
(for 22 Million people) of electrical power consisting of
mostly thermal and hydro power. Most thermal capacity is
destroyed while half the hydro is barely operable. Hydro
power, being decentralized and located at remote places
perhaps escaped some of the destruction typical of other
infrastructure. Refurbishing these plants is required on an
urgent basis. So are the irrigation schemes and
broadcasting.
There is the need for a number of support industries,
such as shelter construction, roads repair, sanitation and
sewage management, energy distribution and prosthesis.
Hospitals are mostly in need of equipment and
pharmaceuticals. Schools need to be refurbished and supplied
with furniture, books and computers. Telecommunication is
nearly absent other than cell phones brought in from
elsewhere. Hard-wired systems need to be redeveloped.
In the aftermath of the war, some villages suffered new
bombing, such as the village near the Tora Bora cave complex
that got destroyed. Major earthquakes devastated some
villages (especially Nahrin), and there is a need for
rebuilding these villages with homes that can withstand
earthquakes better.
2-5 years
In the 2-5 year phase, there is a need for putting into
place major infrastructure programs, which are properly
developed, assessed to be sustainable, and acceptable to
Afghanistan people. The planning for these projects could
start right away, since it takes 1-2 years to carry out the
initial studies. Necessary regulatory environment needs to
be put in place. Key projects would need environmental
assessments prior to their approval to ensure that these
projects meet sustainable development, conservation and
other environmental objectives and to establish
decision-making processes including citizen participation.
Afghanistan needs to be supported in the development of its
environmental objectives, standards and awareness programs.
Comprehensive programs on roads and highway construction,
water works, electricity, broadcasting and
telecommunication, railways, airlines and new hospitals and
schools need to be taken up to complement the facilities
repaired in the first 1-2 years. The country needs a
well-managed waste management program and industry to deal
with industrial and domestic wastes.
A natural gas pipeline could export natural gas with
economic benefits. There may be scope for oil exploration
and the development of a petroleum industry that could bring
in much needed financial resources to undertake development.
Many of these industries could be taken up by Afghanistan
with international support and eventually operated by a
newly developed and trained private sector in the country.
5-10 years
In the 5-10 year phase, with proper initial planning,
many systems that are normally taken for granted in other
countries could be put in place on the course of
Afghanistan’s industrial development. Environmental programs
could be put in place at community levels, in the
transportation industry, and in general in all key
industries. The country could have a wireless network,
modern waterworks, new electricity generating system,
expanded natural gas pipe network, state of the art
broadcasting, modern railways, domestic and international
airlines, parks and recreation facilities.
Beyond 10 years
These systems could be augmented to meet the matured
needs of Afghanistan in the following phase, beyond 10
years, and perhaps over the next ten years. At the end of
these programs, the country could perhaps function with most
of the technological infrastructure nation-wide such as
fully developed water works, nation-wide grids for
electricity, wireless, highway network, TV-Radio networks,
modern schools and hospitals, advanced technical
institutions and centers of excellence, and various urban
infrastructure commonly available to most countries.
Table 1 provides a cursory glance of the
long-term program.Table 1: Tasks Ahead - A Cursory Glance
| 1-2 years |
2-5 years |
5-10 years |
Beyond 10 years |
| 2002/2003
De-mining/Decontamination of the land/farms Road and
Highway repairs Water works repairs Electricity
generation repairs Irrigation repair Broadcasting repair
Small enterprises - prosthesis, housing, road
construction, waste management, energy Hospital and
School repairs Telecom repairs Development of building
code (Earthquake resistant) |
2003/2004
Develop environmental objectives/standards/awareness
program Solid waste management program/industry Telecom
privatization program Road and Highway reconstruction
program Water works privatization program Electricity
privatization program Natural Gas Pipeline project (the
silk route) Broadcasting privatization program Railway
privatization program Airline privatization program
Hospital and School Construction 2005-2007
Implement environmental program - community level,
industrial level, transportation Wireless network -
private award Water works - private contracts for modern
facilities Electricity generation - private contracts
for new capacity/sell existing plants Natural Gas
Pipeline - private contract for new facility
Broadcasting - private award Railway - sell existing
lines/contract new lines Airline - private contracts for
new lines Parks and Recreation facility construction -
Stadiums, Other facilities |
2007-2012
Clean Air (No pollution),Clean Water (No contamination),
Clean land (de-mined, decontaminated) - preserving the
principal heritage of Afghanistan Water works,
Electricity Wireless communication/fixed line network
for entire country Highways connecting major cities
Natural gas from Iran/Turkmenistan (pipeline to major
markets in India/Pakistan) International airports in 4
cities Railway network Hospitals and Schools in major
centres Broadcasting infrastructure - TV/Radio Parks and
Recreation Economy based on small government and private
enterprise/WTO compliant |
2012-2020
Nation-wide water works, electricity, wireless, highway
network, TV-Radio networks, modern schools and
hospitals, advanced technical institutions, and various
urban infrastructure expended to full mature capacities
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3. CURRENT SITUATION ON THE GROUND
The post-war Afghanistan, from a reconstruction
standpoint, poses a clear and present danger. Much of the
infrastructure is in a state of decay. Reports of clogged
sewage pipelines, algae-filled sewage ponds, missing
canisters of chemical agents, missing radioactive sources
from medical equipment are becoming common feature in Kabul.
Land disputes are still being resolved at places with mortar
and rocket-propelled grenades by the warlords.
A United Nations team is currently taking a stock of
environmental threats that include deforestation,
contaminated water, desertification, overuse of chemicals
and waste disposal problems. It is reported that half of
Afghanistan’s cedar, pine and oak forests have been cut over
the years for firewood and timber. Soil erosion is a serious
problem as grasslands have been converted to agricultural
land. Chemical pesticides and fertilizers have contaminated
soils and water tables. There has been a severe drought that
lasted about four years and destroyed 40% of the country’s
arable land. At many places, waste is washing away to water
supplies causing waterborne diseases such as cholera and
diarrhea. One in five patients admitted to the hospitals in
Afghanistan suffers from waterborne diseases. Infrastructure
has been in total disarray in Afghanistan and using the
phrase of the Henrik Slotte, head of the assessment unit of
the United Nations Environment program, “it is time to turn
the page and start over again”.
These post-war problems can get compounded as the
economic reconstruction activities start, if attempts are
not made to remedy some of these areas right away and new
activities are taken up without regard for proper procedures
to ensure that these meet environmental requirements.
The United Nations is leading the first environmental
assessment of the war-damaged Afghanistan. According to it,
forests, water and wildlife have been damaged at an
unprecedented scale. Half the slow-growing woodlands, barely
covering 3% of the land have been the casualty of
bombardment, and a wide-ranging smuggling business. The
water table fails to recharge due to years of drought.
Irrigation tunnels known as karzees have largely
collapsed, and the Kajaki Dam and the hydro power station in
the Helmand river valley have been damaged by the
bombardment. Desert species of wildlife, such as antelopes
and gazelles have been hunted down to near extinction and
fewer than 100 snow leopards remain in the mountains. Bird
migrations including the Siberian crane have been reduced
and wildlife species such as falcons have been smuggled out
of the country. Conventional arms and fuel dumps litter the
countryside, as do millions of hidden landmines.
The problem is that Afghanistan does not have the
managerial capacity or the economic resources to undertake
the post-war remediation, leave alone reconstruction. This
task will have to be on the top of the agenda for any agency
that tries to help Afghanistan in solving its problems. The
primary need is to provide necessary technical assistance to
Afghanistan so that necessary development and reconstruction
is taken up by that country in the most expeditious manner.
4. PRINCIPLES FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND
DEVELOPMENT
Sustainability (Brundtland Commission objectives)
Development is managing environmental resources for
improving human life in a sustainable manner, that is,
without compromising on the needs of future generations. The
World Commission on Environment and Development served
notice fifteen years ago that development could not be
achieved without consideration to sustainability of the
environment. There is no exception for this even in the case
of Afghanistan, ravaged by war and its own repressive
political regimes. Any development needs to ensure that the
problems that have plagued many countries, and the planet
itself, and being addressed globally by the international
community, do not get side-swept in Afghanistan. Millions of
hectares of agricultural land have been reduced to deserts,
million of hectares of forests have been denuded, industrial
effluents have served death notice to lakes in many
countries, acidification of the air environment has
destroyed health, rivers and lakes, and natural resources
and heritages, and the greenhouse effect and consequent
global warming is threatening major climate changes to the
planet, to the disadvantage of all its inhabitants. Toxic
contaminants from industries have adversely affected food
chain and water tables in many countries, resulting in
increasing cancer and other illnesses in the population.
These failures of development should not be repeated in
Afghanistan.
Afghanistan reconstruction should be considered an
opportunity and even a test case for bringing in new
development without its deleterious effects on the ecology
and the human life.
International co-operation is needed in helping
Afghanistan in the right direction with sustainable
development preserving its ecological capital in the
development process and in managing economic pressures to
overuse of the environment and its resources.
Afghanistan has to resist international market pressure
that often drives poorer countries to ignore their own
environment in meeting the export and revenue needs.
Afghanistan has to be watchful of the donor countries that
more often than not provide their economic assistance for
‘returns’ rather than altruistic unconditional assistance.
Afghanistan should not fall into the trap of a debt
crisis that has forced many countries to ignore the
viability of their long-term goals in dealing with the
crisis. It should squarely face pressures towards unbridled
near-term development abusing its scarce resources in the
process.
Sustainable growth can be maintained only if the rising
standard of the Afghanistan’s poor, in any development
scenario, is harmonized with the productive potential of
Afghanistan’s environment and ecosystem and without losing
sight of its long-term sustainability.
Sustainable development is a state of transition where
the economic growth is continuously kept consistent with the
various non-economic factors such as the capability of the
environment to continue to provide resources to human life
and sustain itself, technological development to make growth
more efficient, and human resources to feed growth. It is a
state of transition that may well extend into the timeframe
of an entire generation or more, but to make it happen, the
Afghans will have to start now.
Poverty Reduction
It is a widely held notion that poverty itself is a cause
of environmental problems. As Afghanistan history shows, it
is also the breeding ground for insecurity. Extreme poverty
results in extreme situations with respect to ecological
catastrophes and social upheavals, including internecine
wars. As humans, we are part of the environment and
impoverishment of the human population is in itself an
indicator of environmental degradation. This brings in the
need to strategically position sustainable growth and
redistribution of wealth in the cause of fighting poverty
both as a social inequity and in the broader perspective of
environmental sustainability.
Any policy direction in ensuring sustainable growth,
wealth creation and redistribution and overall poverty
reduction will have to consider among other things: ensuring
that population growth does not outstrip available resources
by well-planned publicly acceptable population control
strategy; a human resource strategy that focuses on
education, training and technological knowledge and
capabilities to carry out the reconstruction and development
tasks of Afghanistan; ensuring that the development
bandwagon does not run over the lifestyles and cultural
values of the Afghan people and the global values that the
society holds for itself and is sensitive to not only to
environment and ecology, but also to human values, societal
needs and cultures.
Community participation and acceptance (common interest,
equity, cultural suitability)
Everyone will agree that an era of growth is key to
poverty reduction in Afghanistan. Development projects are
ultimately to result in economic well being of the country
being developed. Acceptance of these projects at the
community level is important for their success.
It is essential that these projects are subjected to
decision-making processes where the local communities
hosting the development are fully involved and are part of
the decision-making process.
There are excellent models on achieving democratization
in decision-making such as the Canadian Privy Council
Guidelines, the federal and provincial environmental
assessment processes and consultation processes with the
First Nations. In Afghanistan, where people are relatively
unsophisticated in such processes, being subjected to a
non-consultative regime repressive of its subjects, these
processes themselves may have to be put before the public
and the democratic consultative processes and a culture of
decision-making developed even before the processes can be
put in motion.
Every development project should drive towards greater
public acceptance in that they should demonstrably leave the
communities significantly better than they were originally ,
and conducive to common interest, improved equity and
suitable for the cultural expectations of the community.
Most environmental effects from development projects
cross boundaries of individual ownership such as land or
water. For example, effluent from a thermal plant using
dirty coal is everyone’s problem and is not limited to the
fenced boundary of the plant. Such interdependence makes it
necessary that decision-making processes allow for
considerations of common interest and equity of all those
involved. Processes for decision-making would have to
embrace not just the affected community, but regional
population, and at a strategic and planning level, nation as
a whole. Although traditional systems recognize such common
interest issues, awareness of such issues in complex
reconstruction projects need to be promoted before necessary
participation can be sought in decision-making. Most
developed countries have policies, laws, liability
legislation, and processes to ensure that such issues are
dealt with equitably and with regard to everyone’s
satisfaction.
Afghanistan would have to develop necessary steps to
ensure these measures in its own development and
reconstruction activities to avoid public resentment and
opposition due to oversight of such issues.
Socio-cultural factors are important in determining the
acceptance of development projects. For example, there is no
point in putting up a chain of golf courses in a country
where soccer may be the national pastime. Money would be
better spent in having a few soccer stadiums, or even better
in having schools if that is where the priorities lie for
the communities in question.
Socio-cultural and socio-economic aspects need to be
attended to in the assessments of the development projects,
and the projects them selves must be subjected to citizen
participation to make sure that these factors have been
appropriately factored in.
Appropriate technologies (using local resources,
improving on past successes)
Each country has technologies that have been passed on
from generations that have stood the test of time and are
the most viable in the context of that country. Afghanistan
is no exception. The building industry, irrigation, dams and
many other industrial infrastructure have matured for
decades in the local context in Afghanistan. Such
technologies should not be rejected and in fact considered
first in the reconstruction. Such technologies are familiar
to Afghans and given the initial financial resources,
Afghans are capable of making full use of those technologies
for the reconstruction. Even in areas where an indigenous
technology is unavailable, importing of a technology, often
complex and requiring foreign resources from an
industrialized nation may not be the right solution.
Technological innovations that use local resources and
practices may pay a higher dividend in the long run. It
would be necessary to ensure, however, that these
technologies have adequately served the country with regard
to safety, environmental factors and energy efficiency.
Substitution of these technologies with newer and foreign
alternatives may have a role to play where local versions
have failed in one way or another.
Attention to appropriate technologies should be a
priority in the conceptual stage of these development
projects.
Appropriate technologies would also be less vulnerable to
external dependence in items such as spare parts, repair and
ease of refurbishing. Furthermore being small-scale, these
are independent of gross malfunctioning and failure which
large imported technologies are often prone to.
Organizational effectiveness (social control versus
privatization)
Reconstruction and development need to be a combination
of efforts of the public and private sectors. In
Afghanistan, the Interim Administration is new, and the
public sector is hardly adequate in meeting headlong the
challenge of reconstruction. The Interim Administration has
committed itself to the use of all sectors that are
available on the ground, such as the Non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), private investors and international
development agencies and the Afghan communities themselves.
These agencies are in fact taking the lead in making
proposals, getting them funded and approved, and
implemented. The international funding agencies such as the
World Bank would act on behalf of the public sector, with
minimal burden on the fragile interim government. The public
sector will likely be the custodian of key functions in the
task and would probably provide the regulatory and
consultative oversight. As the reconstruction progresses,
and an elected government comes into being, the actual role
of the public sector will likely be established by the
government, and the public/private sharing of the
reconstruction effort could be better defined.
International direct investment by the private sector has
considerably increased since the 1990’s, including direct
lending of money to developing countries by the
international banking sector. Most developing countries are
now welcoming foreign capital and some are even having an
economic boom. Flow of capital brings along with it cutting
edge technologies, advanced know-how, and full panoply of
industries and businesses normally not available to a
developing country. Prospecting for minerals and oil is
expensive groundwork for developing countries, which are
successfully tackled with private sector capital.
Afghanistan’s reconstruction programs are taking place in
this environment of considerable global private sector
involvement, euphemistically referred to as globalization.
With the raising of capital through international pledges,
and the availability of the global private sector to
participate in investments and lending, Afghanistan should
be able to finance projects and find investors to develop
opportunities much more easily than in the past. This gives
the opportunity for the public sector in Afghanistan, of
being a rule-maker rather than an implementer of
reconstruction projects.
The challenge for Afghanistan would be ensure that the
projects are essential and are not make-work projects or
uneconomical enterprises. Lack of prudence in expenditures
leads to lack of pay-offs from the projects, ultimately
driving the country into debt crisis and stagnation in new
lending. Organizational effectives at the highest levels of
the government are crucial to avoid such financial crisis
that has plagued so many developing countries in the past.
The invasion of the private sector is not without its
downsides. The private companies are now building power
generating systems, city infrastructure, roads and highways,
and major industries in many countries. Often the profit
motive side-sweeps other important requirements such as
resource management and environmental sustainability. Being
from elsewhere, many of these companies focus on projects on
hand, completion and delivery and not necessarily with
issues of long-term viability and suitability in the
national context. Furthermore, private sector involvement
drives a consumerist agenda, often adversely affecting
conservation goals.
It becomes all the more important for Afghanistan that it
puts in place policies, regulations and standards, and
processes for public review of new projects, and systems for
follow-up and monitoring to ensure that the activities of
the private sector are acceptable and in the best interests
of the public.
Follow-up and monitoring
To ensure that proposals that are implemented for the
sustainable economic development and reconstruction of
Afghanistan are monitored for their effectiveness and
results, follow-up processes are needed. These processes
should ensure that the development takes its pre-planned
path and as a minimum, does not diverge from its path of
sustainability to one of unsustainable course of events.
Maintaining a sustainable thrust in reconstruction and
development, will require commitment to education, citizen
participation in development and reconstruction, and
dissemination of the sustainability message through to
coming generations that will be holding the torch for the
reconstruction of Afghanistan in the years to come. Without
continuity, the chances are that Afghanistan will revert to
unsustainable patterns of national life that have earmarked
the country’s downward slide in the two decades of conflicts.
5. REGULATING RECONSTRUCTION
As reconstruction begins in Afghanistan new local
industries from a largely private-sector led economy spring
up making new products for reconstruction needs as well as
for public consumption.
A regulatory environment is needed to ensure that these
are ensured to be safe, and sustainable. Standards and
regulations must be developed considering health and safety
of the public, and environmental protection.
Some are required on a priority basis such as Building
Codes, which need to be locally suitable and earthquake
resistent because of earthquake activity in the region. The
hard infrastructure must be internally compatible so that
roads, telephone systems, electricity transmission etc. are
able to function seamlessly between various regions and
provinces and internal economic activity can flourish
without the hindrance of physical or technical barriers.
Beyond these two basic priorities, other priorities for
standards and regulations should take into account: backward
compatibility as far as possible to existing systems such as
analog telephone, household voltages etc. in order to
minimize obsolescence and hardship; regional compatibility
so that trade relations can flourish with neighboring
countries without technical barriers in areas such as
transportation, electricity transmission etc. and
international compatibility so that Afghanistan can
participate in the global economy, particularly in areas
such as Telecommunications.
Natural resources such as forests, lakes and rivers,
estuaries, hills and valleys and wildlife, all types of
flora and fauna are the prime heritage of a country. The
view that these can be used for increasing the standard of
living without consideration to conservation, is now
outmoded and dangerous. Afghanistan’s natural heritages have
been severely assaulted not only by war and conflicts, but
by poverty itself which subverts conservation ethics to
providing basic sustenance such as food and shelter.
Reconstruction needs to be carried out in the context of
comprehensive environmental protection regulations. These
should deal with air, water and soils and establish quality
objectives. Sustainable development objectives need to be
enshrined into environmental rules and regulations. There
need to be regulations established for environmental
assessment of projects and processes for environmental
approvals.
The challenge would be to have environmental reviews
carried out in key areas, laws and regulations put into
effect, and reconstruction carried out in the context of
environmental laws and regulations.
Regulations and standards in key areas
In general regulations should be developed in matters of
safety such as Building codes or Electrical codes etc.
Standards should be developed where compatibility of systems
is required such as for wireless telephony, electrical
jacks, fire hydrants etc. Federal and provincial ministries
or their designated agencies are responsible for
regulations, while various industries normally develop
standards through the national standards associations (such
as the CSA in Canada). Regulations are often prescriptive
and mandatory, whereas standards are advisory material.
These are discussed below with respect to some key
engineering areas as examples and need to be verified with
respect to Afghanistan.
Metrology
In general the international standards for physical
measurement is the SI system or the metric system.
Officially Afghanistan adopted the metric system in
1920. Knowing that there was major trade with the former
Soviet Union for several decades, metric system is
perhaps well established in Afghanistan. This is also
the current situation in majority of the countries
surrounding Afghanistan. Continued use of the SI system
will be the most effective and efficient process.
Construction
Afghanistan is situated in a major earthquake area.
Recently there were earthquakes in the Hindu Kush range
and in the village of Nahrin both of 6 Richter scale.
This did not affect Kabul as the epicentre was about 400
kilometres away. There is an immediate need for a
Building Code to be developed in order to establish
earthquake standards before major construction begins.
The Society of Afghan Engineers based in Washington D.C.
are developing a Building Code based on the US Building
Code.
Transportation (Land)
In Afghanistan people drive on the Right side of the
road. This is same as rest of Europe and the countries
surrounding Afghanistan except Pakistan where people
drive on the Left side of the road. The Afghanistan
practice is compatible with majority of countries and
should continue.
Electricity
The household current in Afghanistan is 220 Volts and
50 Hz. This is same as Pakistan, Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan, Tajikistan. Only Iran uses 230 Volts and 50
Hz. This is very useful as regional trade on Electrical
appliances will be facilitated. This standard should be
maintained throughout the country to facilitate internal
harmonization. It is noted that this differs from many
countries who will act as donors to the reconstruction
of Afghanistan. An Electrical Code will have to be
developed for Afghanistan.
Telecommunications
In Afghanistan, the main telephone system was analog
and pre-deregulation. This means that Telephony is
provided by a government monopoly and there may not be
provisions for terminal attachment of user equipment. It
is understood that a separate system with terminal
attachment provisions does operate. The main task will
be to develop a regulatory system which will allow
terminal attachment of user equipment, allow the entry
of private sector service providers to attach to the
network in new areas such as local, long distance or
wireless. Certain standards will also have to be
developed for industry harmonisation with international
standards.
Broadcasting
The standard of TV broadcasting in Afghanistan and
the region is PAL. This differs from donor countries
such as USA, Japan which use NTSC and Saudi Arabia uses
SECAM. The system should be developed on PAL for
internal and regional compatibility. A lot of cultural
trade takes place between the countries especially
through satellite transmission. Broadcasting regulatory
framework needs to be develop for licencing in the area
of TV Channels, cable net works and Radio channels. This
sector should be developed in a deregulated private
manner from the very beginning to match with present
situation in the West. Rapid development will be
possible in a deregulated environment.
Pharmaceuticals
Afghanistan will be highly dependent on imported
pharmaceuticals such as from the North American and
European countries and India. Afghanistan will have to
adopt its own pharmaceutical codes when an indigenous
technology is to be put into service.
Consumer Products
There need to be regulations against fraud, labeling
and product manufacture for consumer products.
The above are only examples. Regulations encompass all
areas of activities, and the development of regulations
would be a time-consuming activity of Afghanistan. It should
be taken up on a timeline in which most important activities
are covered first, so that regulations do not become a
show-stopper for development in Afghanistan. In the
beginning, it may even be prudent to review existing
international regulations and approve them for interim use
with minimum change, and then develop similar regulations on
a timely schedule considering changes that may be required
for Afghanistan conditions. These would have to be made
available to the grassroots industries in Afghanistan which
may require translations of these codes and regulations into
local languages such as Pharsi and Pasthun.
6. PRESERVING/RECOVERY OF THE HERITAGE
AIR, WATER, LAND, OTHER RESOURCES AND
INFRASTRUCTURE
In this Section, we discuss key areas of reconstruction
and development. In each area, we discuss the issues
involved, policy directions for change, and areas where
engineering support could be provided to Afghanistan. The
list is by no means comprehensive, is indicative to say the
least, but covers what appear to be the seemingly obvious
areas, judging from the needs assessment studies carried out
by the Asian Development bank and the UNDP and presented at
the Tokyo Conference of ministers, and various other sources
which include media reports, first hand accounts of those
who visited Afghanistan following the cessation of
hostilities, and the needs that were dealt with in similar
situations elsewhere. Very little field-testing has been
reported of the needs in Afghanistan since the end of the
war, due to security concerns, although some baseline
studies are currently in progress taken up by the United
Nations Environmental Programme. It would be necessary to
carry out reality checks of the discussion in this document
based on studies that would become available from the ground
during the development of the long-term plan and
consultations with the Afghans in the AIA, academia and the
NGOs currently working in Afghanistan.
Food security
The goal of food security is to ensure that the poorest
of the poor can get food. Afghanistan’s food security was
breached by the wars that displaced farmers, destroyed
agricultural land and contaminated arable land often with
chemicals and land mines. Irrigation systems were destroyed.
Subsistence farming, or farming for domestic food security
(as against commercial) that is practiced in Afghanistan,
mostly a rural agricultural country, is
resource-inefficient, takes large areas of natural
ecosystems for farming, and is low in yield. The
agricultural revolutions that came into being in the last
hundred or so years largely in the West changed the nature
of farming from subsistence to commercial and to
technological farming, and multiplied the yield several
times. This development passed by Afghanistan. Afghanistan,
like many developing countries is still in the
subsistence-farming phase. Environmental degradation factors
such as topsoil erosion, desertification and cutting of
trees and brushwood for fuel, water logging and salinity of
fields, exacerbated the food security problem that was
already suffering from low yield. Millions of refugees left
their homes and risked life without food and water until
relief agencies took up the challenge of feeding them and
providing them with temporary shelter. Livestock development
that once was the mainstay of the rural economy also
suffered as the livestock farmers left the pastures for fear
of survival. Food security was further jeopardized by four
years of drought.
Recovery of food growing land back to agriculture,
distribution of seeds for agricultural recovery, and
disincentives to those who convert arable land to poppy
growing fields for the illegal drug industry lead the agenda
for securing food supplies. The Asian Development Bank study
predicts that the situation will get worse before it gets
better, as the refugees return and search for fuel and land
to resettle.
Recovery of farming and irrigation is a high priority
issue in the short-term. Farmers will require help in
irrigation system refurbishment, market recovery (both
domestic and with neighboring countries) for selling their
farm production and reestablishing live stock production.
Trading practices will have to be reestablished among
farmers and consumers both inside and outside the country.
Farming in the case of developed countries has often been
heavily subsidized which has led to overuse of soil and
chemicals, pollution of water resources and rural
environmental degradation. On the positive side, aggressive
agricultural practices with mechanization, improved seed
varieties, agro-chemicals and use of pesticides have been
instrumental in ensuring food security in most developed
countries. These methods require scientific and
technological infrastructure or import of technology and
products such as farming machinery and fertilizers. These
methods have their downsides for developing countries.
Mechanization is expensive and creates unemployment. Overuse
of fertilizers reduces soil quality and pollutes aquifers
with nitrates and phosphates and other agents.
Industrialization of agriculture even at a modest level
without proper planning of socio-economic and socio-cultural
factors can affect livelihood of rural people and create
large-scale migration of people to urban areas, social
conflicts and chaos.
There are natural options available such as organic
nutrients, natural composting and use of animal manure.
These ancient methods can be revived, improved upon and put
to use on a larger scale to improve food production. Such
methods would also be compatible with local experience and
history and minimize the need for intervention. Pesticides
are well known to be environmentally harmful. Many
resource-poor countries relied on improving seed varieties
and modest use of agro-chemicals for improving food security
and have been largely successful, as is the case in India
(green revolution). Future Harvest, a science consortium is
currently working in Afghanistan towards seed recovery
efforts, restoring of irrigation systems and vaccines for
livestock to make them disease tolerant.
Afghanistan should avoid shortsighted policies and build
on past successes of its rural agricultural economy, which
is mostly free of chemicals, pesticides and overuse of
fertilizers.
Use of pesticides and aggressive agro-chemicals should be
kept minimal. Import of aggressive western technologies
require collective farming, and could threaten lifestyles of
subsistence farmers and nomadic herders, creating social
conflicts without programs for community consultation and
education. Irrigation management programs and watershed
management will have to be carefully designed taking care
not to result in adverse environmental degradation.
Given that there is pressure to increase food production
particularly in the face of widespread poverty,
modernization, i.e., use of modern methods of agriculture in
a rural cultural setting is largely a balancing act, and
care should be exercised in bringing in revolutionary new
techniques.
Development support to rural farmers to restart
traditional food processing industries, agro-based
small-scale industries and livestock development would go a
long way to recover lost capabilities without undue stress
on the rural societies, the environment and the ecology.
Land, water and forests need to be conserved for
agriculture to be sustainable. Large-scale government
intervention, the norm in most developed countries, is not
advisable in Afghanistan to start with. However some
intervention in devising resource conservation and land use
strategies and modest levels of industrialization of
agriculture and agro-fertilization may improve short-term
situation providing a real-time framework for reviews of a
long-term agricultural strategy. Strategic decisions made
with respect to agriculture, such as industrial agriculture
or agro-business versus age-old subsistence farming have
perhaps the largest social influences in Afghanistan. The
influences would be national in their scope, and may relate
to urban versus rural life, demographic changes due to
migration, rural life as a way of life versus as a business,
and changes to environment and natural ecology on a national
scale.
Areas for Engineering Support: Food Security
Environmental remediation of agricultural land
infrastructure (such as destroyed hillsides, deforested
lands, contaminated rivers and lakes etc)
Irrigation recovery programs
Remediation of water logging and salinity problems in
heavily irrigated lands
Forestry and watershed management
Agricultural infrastructure development (industries
to support agriculture)
Recovery (de-mining) of pastures for livestock
Safe disposal of toxic chemicals, fertilizers and
waste from agricultural land
Agricultural engineering education
Food and meat processing and agro-industries
Groundwater resource management
Hydrological support to large-scale farming
(improving water conservation, groundwater recharge,
monitoring etc)
Overall agricultural system and institutional
planning and policy development
Housing and communities
Rows after rows of destroyed houses and piles of rubble
are probably the most visible remnants of the war-torn
Afghanistan. It is the major urban crisis in Afghanistan
leading people living under extreme conditions. The rubble
need to be cleared and houses destroyed need to be repaired
or rebuilt. Low-cost housing is the short-term alternative
for housing homeless people, and has to be balanced with the
need to alleviate the downside of such housing sprawls in
terms of overcrowding, poor quality of construction, and
lack of architecture and aesthetics.
Inadequate attention to housing in urban settings leads
to unplanned growth of shantytowns with associated problems
of sanitation, health and overcrowding. This may lead to
chaotic urban sprawl specially on land ill-suited for
habitation such as railway land, riversides and marshy
lands, with people living with substandard services (without
piped water, power, sanitation facilities etc). Communicable
diseases flourish under those conditions due to lack of
hygiene, and improper disposal of human wastes.
Development of properly planned urban environment with
serviced land and housing developments should be a major
activity in the reconstruction of Afghanistan.
Clearing of unsafe structures and debris, redevelopment
of cleared land, development of new shelters and housing
colonies, and services such as water, sewage disposal,
electricity and telecommunication becomes an overwhelming
task for Afghanistan without major international aid and
development support despite availability of local labor.
Given that Afghanistan is faced with the situation of
turning a page and starting over again in this area, there
is room for innovation, modernizing shelter design and
overall urban planning and development. If creation of
shantytowns, illegal settlements and ad-hoc unplanned
housing developments have to be prevented, the agencies in
charge of housing and the resettling of communities need to
be highly pro-active, and development activities need to be
taken up as expeditiously as possible. Government
intervention may be needed to prevent illegal urban sprawls
that could become a highly divisive class issue in an urban
society.
The construction activity in the past in Afghanistan paid
little regard to earthquake resistance. Major catastrophes
from earthquakes are typical of urban settings in developing
countries (Gujarat in India is a clear example) where the
homes are built with local brick and mud walls that collapse
in the face of even moderate earthquakes.
There is room for new innovation in meeting the challenge
of building inexpensive homes that can reasonably withstand
earthquakes.
Engineering Support Areas: Housing and Communities
Shelter design and programming
Municipal services (water, sewage, electricity,
phone)
City planning and land-use design
Architectural support
Community infrastructure (shopping centers,
recreation centers, parks, transportation)
Roads and drainage
Debris removal/management
Solid waste management (landfills)
Urban planning, policies and development
Innovative habitat development (Cost-effective and
aesthetic alternatives to housing design)
Earth-quake resistant designs
Support to housing industry (housing plans, building
codes, materials, fixtures etc).
Water
Afghanistan’s water resources are scarce. With only a few
large lakes, some shared with Iran and a few major river
systems fed from the snow melt from mountain ranges and
discharging to the lakes, water management is all the more
important to country’s well being. Water tables are located
deep since the country is made up of deserts and mountain
ranges at large elevations and there is little rain ( few
centimeters a year in most areas). Demands on water are high
in urban areas due to domestic and industrial needs and in
rural areas due to irrigation. Water is a national
priority issue. Historically, civilizations have dwindled
way due to lack of water. Water systems will remain a
high priority for years to come, since so much needs to be
done and so little is being put into it right now.
Water mains are in poor condition due to breakdown, lack
of repair and maintenance, and as a result, water pollution
is a considerable problem in Afghanistan. Only 20% receive
serviced water, while the rest rely on other on-site
sources. Urban water systems need to be rehabilitated in an
expeditious manner. Also there are nearly half a million
rural areas in Afghanistan with no access to safe water.
International agencies should focus on this mammoth task
both in urban areas and rural areas such that safe water can
be made available to millions of Afghans. Recently Swedish
agencies have started a program for the creation of wells in
Afghanistan and training of people with regard to safe water
and upkeep of water systems.
Lack of safe water also raises serious health issues such
as waterborne diseases (diarrhea, hepatitis, dysentery and
typhoid) and issues of proper sanitation. Low water
pressures result in seepage of contaminants into water
supplies and water pollution. Where on-site water sources
are concerned it is necessary to make sure that the water is
maintained clean, free of ingress of contaminants.
It is necessary to ensure that demands on water do not
exceed the capability of the aquifers to supply this water
and replenish themselves. Sustainability of water
availability, water conservation and aquifer management
become important issues. Afghanistan is a land-locked and as
such its water resources are limited. Water bodies such as
lakes and rivers need to be protected from contamination
such as sewage, pulp and industrial effluents, and
petrochemical contamination.
Two types of problems characterize Afghanistan’s water
resources. One is macro-level changes, such as changes due
to erosion of soil and silting of rivers, changes to
precipitation, desertification, run-offs, evapo-transpiration
etc. The other problem is due to point source factors such
as urban water demands, point source pollutions from
industry and hydraulic dams and other structures.
While macro-level changes are hard to manage, often
global in scale, point source changes, mostly
anthropocentric, need to be strictly managed such that water
bodies remain well managed and are sustained over
generations at a high quality level.
The overall environmental integrity and healthy
hydrologic regimes need to be maintained for sustaining
water quality against macro-level changes. On the other side
of the equation, full range of water uses by the communities
need to be carefully managed to preserve water quality
against point source pollution.
All watersheds need to be carefully nurtured on an
integrated basis against abuse by industries, environmental
alteration factors and other reasons affecting them since
these watersheds are the natural feeders to water sources.
All proposals for reconstruction that need water
resources (most of them do) need to be carefully reviewed
often with citizen participation to set overall objectives
and goals. Withdrawal demands are likely to increase with
reconstruction tasks getting under way. The challenge is to
ensure that demands on water do not result in overuse of
water bodies and aquifers resulting in irreversible changes
by way of pollution or drainage.
Water resources cannot be managed as a local issue, and
have to be looked at in terms of its integrated nature,
closely tied to not only human demand but to macro-changes
occurring in the environment.
Engineering support areas in water systems
Creation of wells mostly in rural areas
Piped water systems (network design)
Water treatment and testing
Conservation strategies
Water table (aquifer) management
Environmental management of on-site water resources
Training and education of water management staff
Storm drainage systems
Sewage systems
Electricity
Bulk electricity is provided in Afghanistan through a few
large thermal and hydro plants and a large number of small
hydro plants scattered mostly in northeast part of
Afghanistan. Most of these plants have capacities of a few
hundred kilowatts to a few megawatts. Total electricity
capacity is about 500 MW for the whole of Afghanistan. Only
6% have electricity, mostly in cities. Per capita
consumption is 45 kWh, among the lowest in the world. Supply
situation in cities is sporadic due to damaged facilities.
Large plants mostly are shutdown while half of the small
plants are providing the much needed service. Electrical
transmission is in a state of utter disrepair.
Refurbishment of the plants and transmission is a major
task for the Afghans. Many dams have undergone heavy silting
and become less effective in providing water head. Although
damage to small hydro plants have been minimal as a result
of their remoteness, the transmission lines in urban areas
have greatly suffered and repair has been difficult due to
presence of landmines in many areas. Spare parts, workshops
and transport facilities have exacerbated the electricity
problem.
There is very little grid integration, making most areas
dependent on their own small plants for electricity with
little scope for transmission at a national level. Many
international agencies from Germany and Russia did work on
the refurbishment of a few plants in the days of the
Taliban, but the scale of effort hardly matched the need for
repair and refurbishment.
Per capita availability of electricity (500 MW for 22
million people) is very meager.
Increasing electrical power capacity would have to be a
major task for the Afghan government, to match the needs of
the country as it gets industrialized. Increase in power
capacity calls for detailed evaluations of options available
and sustainable decisions making the right choice.
All options should be taken into account, such as small
and large hydro plants, thermal plants burning coal, oil and
natural gas, thermal plants burning municipal and
agricultural wastes, solar energy and wind turbines.
Supply /demand studies should identify the right choices
and locations to site them. It should be recognized that
power sector projects have considerable potential to
adversely affect the environment. Environmental assessments
should identify their relative characteristics in terms of
sustainability and environmental effects.
Decisions will have to be taken for a course of action
for increasing capacity and timelines for introducing new
plants into the current mix. In the long-term, nuclear
plants that are capital intensive may have a role to play if
large-scale power introduction to the grid becomes necessary
and cannot be matched by any other method.
Engineering support areas for Electricity
Refurbishment of large thermal plants
Refurbishment of large hydro plants
Refurbishment of small hydro
Dam recovery (de-silting of dams, repair to dams
etc.)
Transmission lines repair
Domestic and industrial distribution of electricity
National grid integration
New power plants (thermal, hydro, nuclear?)
Frontier technologies (solar, wind power, hydrogen
energy, electrical vehicles)
National power planning, feasibility studies and
strategic studies
Effluent management of coal plants (scrubbers etc)
Water resource management
Environmental assessments of electrical power plants
and transmission
Socio-economic and socio-cultural assessments of
electrical power
Decommissioning of defunct plants
Communication
Communication is a vital link in the development of
Afghanistan. It consists of print media (newspaper sector),
telephone, Internet, broadcasting and radio networks. At
this time, telephone systems are in disarray, although there
are two telephones per thousand people. Broadcasting and
radio networks do function, but are highly inadequate.
Mobile phones are available to a few and are functional
since these do not depend on telephone exchanges.
Telecommunication is an area that can be easily developed
by the private sector with the current wireless technology
and the mobile phone market. So far a government monopoly,
this system can also adapt itself with terminal attachment
modifications to allow private sector to use the network and
rapidly meet user needs.
Unlike hard infrastructure such as power and energy
resources, communication technologies have the least
conflicts with sustainability and environmental issues and
provide opportunities for private sector involvement and
quick returns in terms of communication infrastructure and
access to personal communication to the Afghans. Services
such as the computers and the Internet provide instant
access to vast information resources across the world and
provide a great impetus for indigenous development of the
communication market.
Communication opens the door to knowledge-based
industries such as in the computer software sector,
computer-aided design and manufacture, Internet education,
computer-aided education in schools, and distance education
of the public. There have been success stories of developing
countries cashing in on the communication-driven knowledge
sector, such as the software industry in India and Taiwan.
Afghanistan has these opportunities open to it, if it
tackles the communication reconstruction head on as a
priority.
Engineering support areas for communication
Printing facilities and development of the newspaper
sector
Educational communication (text book industry)
Hard-wired telephone systems
Mobile systems
Computers
Internet
TV/radio stations
Software, operating systems
Market integration with special purpose software and
computers
Training systems for Afghans in computers and related
fields
Frontier technologies (advanced computers,
satellites, advanced telecommunication)
Roads and Highways
Much of road and highway infrastructure, nearly 2500 km
of primary roads, is heavily damaged and possibly mined in
certain areas. The bridges, tunnels need special attention
because of their strategic importance to the road and
highway system. Roads and highways are also important in
uniting the country and removing isolation of different
regions of the country that results in loss of cohesiveness
in holding the country together. Much of the road and
highway system is not all weather and close down in winter.
Repair and construction of additional roads and highways
are items that can be taken by major contractors either
local or international and the jobs can be carried out with
local labor. If appropriate methods familiar to Afghans are
used, roads and highways can be reconstructed by local labor
with financial help from international agencies.
It is important that local technologies are used to start
with and improvements considered in the longer term. The
main objective of the roads and highways programs should be
to open up this infrastructure for the movement of goods and
people such that it provides an impetus for the overall
development of the country.
Engineering Support Areas for Roads and Highways
Road sector design, highways strategies and design
Management of Roads and Highways rehabilitation
Bridge Refurbishment programs
Tunnel Rehabilitation
New Bridges and Tunnels
New Roads and Highways
Overall system planning and design
Energy resources
As reconstruction gets under way, meeting increasing
customer demand for energy resources will be a major
challenge, High investments may be needed and a mix of large
and small-scale plants may have to be considered for peak
load and base load management. Large plants take
considerable lead-time to put into place that would have to
be factored into the system expansion plans. Choices will
have to be made considering cost, security of supply,
environmental impact and local and regional economics, and
social preferences.
Exploration of new oil wells is an enterprise of
considerable importance to national economics and is likely
to attract national and international attention from oil
marketers. Wildcat oil wells across the countryside for
exploration can become an environmental issue as much as
construction of oil rigs and refineries to deploy the newly
found resources. Impact assessment and planning of national
oil strategies could become a major issue for the national
government to deal with, with associated market pressures,
international politics for oil security, and the disposable
revenue it can bring to Afghanistan.
It would be necessary that these energy-related
developments are fully evaluated, taking into account
sustainable development criteria, and ensuring that the
waste byproducts, such as effluent gases are strictly made
subject to control and monitoring.
These pertain primarily to natural gas, petroleum and
hydroelectric sectors (already covered under electricity).
Wood fuel is also a fuel of concern with respect to its
impact on deforestation and the scale of its use in poor
countries such as Afghanistan. Solar energy and wind power
have been used for thousands of years and the modern
technologies have increased the degree of efficiency of
these sources of energy by design of improved solar
appliances and wind turbines. Solar rooftop programs as
practiced in Japan can substantially cut the need for
central power. Other renewable resources are biomass and
fuel alcohol. Renewable resources like biomass and wind
power work very well on small scale and are suitable for
power plants in remote villages and small towns. Overall
national strategies for the exploration and development of
natural gas and petroleum resources need to be developed.
There may be scope for co-generation and non-utility
generation such as facilities run by municipalities and
private investors based on non-conventional energy resources
that include biomass, municipal wastes, and agricultural
wastes.
Because of the revenue-producing nature of these
resources, there will be a tendency on the part of
governments to exploit these resources for short-term gains
at the expense of long-term strategies and sustainable
development goals. Among natural gas, petroleum and coal,
natural gas is by far the cleanest fuel and coal the
dirtiest. Modern combustion techniques for coal have
advanced considerably with scrubber technologies for
reducing air pollution and it is claimed that the cost of
these technologies are smaller than the environmental costs
involved with old technologies for combustion. All fossil
fuels increase air pollution, acidification and contribute
to global warming.
However natural gas should be promoted over the other two
fossil fuels for domestic use, and in areas such as
transportation. Cooking on open fire with wood for example
takes eight times more energy than a gas stove.
Following the war, people are switching back to biomass
fuels, such as firewood and animal waste. Natural gas wells
have been mostly damaged and capped. Petroleum storage
facilities and distribution outlets have been damaged as
well, and fuel is imported at high cost. As the living
standard rises, and energy sources are recovered, people
should be made aware of better choices so that the demand on
non-renewable sources of energy due to poverty reduces. Use
of wood fuel should be limited to collection of dead
branches and twigs that are normally the practice in rural
areas (no one in fact cuts trees for firewood). There is
enormous scope for improving energy consumption features in
buildings (lighting), in agriculture (more efficient pumps,
industries (better motors) and in transportation (natural
gas based systems). There are new technologies such as water
gas (plant produced gas with hydrogen and carbon), hydrogen
energy, and fuel cells to be considered as well.
Processes need to be put in place to carry out strategic
studies, environmental assessments and identify national
plans for the development of energy resources. Improvements
in end-use equipment should be focused on to reduce energy
demand as the living standard goes up and energy consumption
rises. The national governments will have to resist
international pressures and pressures from the private
sector to expedite and over-utilize resources and sell these
resources without proper evaluations of the environmental
factors associated in their development.
Many of the existing infrastructures in these areas are
destroyed and there has to be a concerted effort to repair
pipelines, pumps, tanks and storage facilities such that
power can be brought to the people as early as possible
before focusing on expanding the capacity for export. There
are plans already in the works for doubling the capacity to
900 MW in ten years.
Engineering Support Areas for Energy Resources
Repair of existing natural gas and petroleum
infrastructure (pipelines, pumps and distribution
network within the country)
Strategic studies on future development
Studies on expansion of natural gas and petroleum
resources
Implementation of expansion programs
Pollution abatement technologies
End use technologies (i.e., more efficient end-use
equipment, lighting, heating, refrigeration etc).
Energy audits
Mineral Resources
Afghanistan’s natural resources include a wide range of
resources such as natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper,
chromium, talc, barites, sulfur, lead, zinc, iron ore, salt
and precious and semi-precious stones. These have led to a
number of metallurgical and stone manufacturing industries
in Afghanistan. In the absence of a strong centralized
administration, these industries were self-managed and
managed by widely scattered producers, without an
integrative plan to ensure the long-term viability of these
resources. While the future demand-supply situation is not
known, it can be expected that resources that have not yet
been tapped, such as oil, potentially provide opportunities
for national and international investors to tap into these
resources in the years to come. National pipelines for
natural gas to export natural gas to neighboring countries
have been mentioned in the media. A pervasive concern would
be the long-term health and well being of these resource
industries, and the environmental impacts of such
exploratory enterprises.
In each area of mineral resources, established reserves
have to be identified, and a demand versus supply plan
developed, based on which a long-term strategy of mineral
industry development options can be developed and
appropriate policy decisions made for their long-term
application.
Transportation
Transportation is another vital link in the running of a
country. Primarily, transportation systems consist of
private vehicles, public road transportation systems,
railways and airlines. While private vehicles do not require
much national attention except in terms of regulation,
public transportation and railways require planning and
large resources to implement.
The programs should be forward-looking in terms of
environmental issues involved, such as smog in cities and
related health effects. Proper systems such as vehicles that
use LNG instead of petroleum, diesel instead of coal (fo |