Ziayee lays the cornerstone of the new sub-basin agency in Baghlan-e-Jadid
On 6 May 2008 the deputy Minister of Energy and Water, Mr Ziayee, laid down the cornerstone of the new Sub-basin Agency in Baghlan-e-Jadid. The first of a series of constructions that will create the infrastructure for the new Agency responsible for the governance of all water related issues in the vast North-Easter basin of the Amu River and its tributaries. The main office of the Amu River Basin Agency will be built in Kunduz, while other sub-basin agencies with be built in Faisabad (river Kokcha) and Taloqan. The European Union is funding the construction works of the three sub-basin and the central basin agency buildings with a total of around €2 million (AFA 155 million). The works will be completed after 18 months by the Afghan company Golden Gate Constructions.
Water is a scarce resource vital for the rural development and the livelihoods of millions of Afghan families. The institution of the river basin agency can coordinate the competencies of line ministries and local administrations with a scope extended to the geographical boundaries of the basin of the river system in the North-Eastern region of the country thus ensuring a more efficient management of water.
The construction of the new sub-basin in Baghlan is part of the Amu River Basin Programme (ARBP), a pilot project for integrated watershed management in Afghanistan. The European Commission has been cooperating with the Ministry of Energy and Water and other actors on the ground since 2004 to support the implementation of a new water sector policy. Under the auspices of the Ministry of Energy and Water a total EU funding of around €37 million over the years 2004 to 2009 has already achieved the rehabilitation of 16 irrigation systems including 327 km of canals that provide irrigation water to 50 thousand hectares of farmland, equal to 25% of the irrigated lands in the basin. The integrated water management improves the water supply for farming and thereby ensure the food security and income generation of around 80 thousand rural families in the Kunduz/Taloqan river basin. In order to control erosion, the programme has already planted 100.000 tree saplings on dry mountain slopes.