The Shakardara Road of Kabul province, which has been completed by the National Rural Access Programme NRAP and funded by European Union (EU), inaugurated by Engineer Khalil Rahman Director of National Rural Access Program . In this ceremony attendees included the authorities of the NRAP, UNOPS, European Commission (EC) delegation, provincial and community influential people.

The length of this road is 4.5 km {starts from center of Shakardara district to Kabul parwan highway}. Through this road project 8094 working days have been generated and 13,000 inhabitants along the road are receiving economical and social benefits from this road. This road was funded by the EC with an amount of $ 290,678 (14,533,917 Afghani).

Surface treatment of this road is DBST (Double Bituminous Surface Treatment), which is applied for rural roads with average traffic use of light loaded vehicles. The cost of one kilometer of a DBST road is nearly the same as a graveled road and around 70 percent cheaper then an asphalt road. Meanwhile the whole life cycle quality of it is much higher than a graveled road and requires less maintenance. Based on rural road planning, the NRAP-EC 204 km European Commission funds rural roads.

“Roads connect villages to the cities and make their access easier to local markets and social services centers” Said Engineer Khalil Rahman form MRRD NRAP “this road will have positive socio-economic impact on the livelihood of the local residents”.

“Before this road was built we had many problems commuting to markets and provincial center. The transportation cost was very high; with the inauguration of this road we will have easier access to local markets and will be able to easily transport our produce; also the transportation cost has declined significantly” Said a local resident of Shakardara Khan Aqa.

NRAP is implemented jointly by the MoPW and MRRD. Through this national program more then 9,500 km rural roads have been constructed or rehabilitated generating around 14million labor days.