GHAZNI CITY (PAN): Residents are pessimistic about the completion of requisite preparations over the next five months to make this southern city the Islamic civilisation capital.
At a 2007 meeting in the Libyan city of Tripoli, culture ministers from Islamic countries selected Ghazni City as the Asian Capital of the Islamic Civilisation for 2013.
On April 13, a ceremony was held at the governor's house here to celebrate the city serving as Islamic Civilisation Capital. However, a number of projects aimed at preparing the city for the occasion are yet to be executed.
Dwellers remain skeptical about the preparations being completed in the next five months. Resident Haji Raz Mohammad saw no possibility of Ghazni City becoming ready in such a short span of time. He accused the government of failing to execute the required projects.
He also lashed out at the governor for holding out false promises to the people. Several schemes, including an airport, two international-standard hotels and power supply to the city, are scheduled to be completed this year.
However, practical work on the schemes is yet to get under way, putting a damper on the so-called preparations. He asked the authorities to take a fresh and realistic look at what had been done so far.  
Mohammad Arif, another inhabitant of the city, was equally unconvinced of the schemes being implemented in time. He claimed the government had paid little attention to the work it was supposed to do in the past five years.
The man complained one huge project involving a meeting hall, a mosque, an underground market and an Islamic education centre was far from complete.
Ghazni University teacher Inayatur Rahman Mayar asked President Hamid Karzai to explain why the Ghazni projects had been assigned to the backyard.
By the same token, he stressed, the provincial administration must also be held accountable for its inability to measure up to the challenge. The teacher viewed the gubernatorial commitment to completing the work in five months as an attempt at hoodwinking the masses.
But Governor Musa Khan Akbarzada insisted the ongoing projects would be executed over the next five months. While acknowledging public complaints as valid, he would not say how the gigantic task would be accomplished.
Instead, the governor took a swipe at the ministries concerned for their failure to provide funds for the airport, hotels and power supply to the city, are scheduled to be completed this year.
Despite all hurdles, he reiterated his resolve to complete the schemes and pave the ground for the final ceremony being held in Ghazni City in a befitting manner.