KHOST CITY (PAN): Khost Governor Abdul Jabbar Naeemi has accused the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of blocking development and reconstruction projects in the southeastern province.
In an exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News, Naeemi blamed the ministry for creating hurdles to the implementation of development projects in the province, bordering Pakistan.
He complained the defence ministry hampered the implementation of a master plan that they had evolved in cooperation with the Ministry of Urban Development.
The governor explained the MoD was not ready to hand over to the municipality a piece of land outlined in the master plan.
“President (Hamid) Karzai has ordered an exchange of the land. We have time and again talked to ministry officials. We have sent them tribal elders, but the ministry is reluctant to surrender the land to the municipality,” he alleged.
Claiming that a number of basic infrastructure development projects had been halted as a result, he said the deadlock had led to rejection of projects worth $15 million (724 million afs) in education, health, agriculture, irrigation and road sectors.
The governor said his administration, civil society, tribal elders and common people were unhappy with the defence ministry’s attitude. Naeemi pointed out the MoD had established a marketplace on land south of Khost City, posing a security threat to the provincial capital.
The governor charged terrorist plots against government offices were being hatched and executed inside the ministry-built shops.
He continued the MoD had blocked the distribution of land plots allotted to homeless people by governors over the past seven years, despite the completion of all legal formalities, including cash deposits in banks.