Afghanistan needs US$3b in coming years: Report

Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Washington

Rebuilding war-ravaged Afghanistan will cost US$2 to $3 billion over the next two and a half years, leading global development agencies said in an estimate on Thursday.

Speedy aid projects could create 100,000 food-for-work jobs over the next six months, restore water to 15,000 homes and enroll 1.5 million children in primary school in the next two years, they said.

A joint expert team of the United Nations Development Program, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank outlined the preliminary goals and cost estimate in Brussels on Thursday.

The team of 36 experts highlighted some of the most urgent problems they believe the administration of interim leader Hamid Karzai, taking office in Kabul this weekend, needs to address:

- More than 7 million Afghans remain "vulnerable to severe food shortages" during the harsh winter, they said in a report.

- With the public health sector in shambles, one in four children die before the age of five, and one in 12 women die in childbirth.

- The education sector has been devastated. After years of Taliban rule, primary school enrollment for girls is 6 percent.

- Only 6 percent of Afghans had access to electricity in 1993, only two in 1,000 have telephones. More than half of the primary road network is "seriously deteriorated".

On the positive side, Afghanistan has a "vibrant informal economy focused on cross-border trade" and a "resilient entrepreneurial culture". Among the country's other development assets were:

- A network of 48 municipal and two international airports which is heavily damaged but could be repaired and used.

- A "strong tradition of community management" of the country's vast and ancient irrigation systems.

- Some 17,000 health staff from non-profit groups, the private sector and civil service who could be mobilized.

The findings will be presented for donor pledging at a ministerial-level meeting in Japan in late January, said Yoshihiro Iwasaki, the ADB's director of programs.

"Of course we all recognize the critical importance of the ongoing humanitarian relief effort, especially over the winter months ahead of us all now."