NILI (PAN): Internet and telephone facilities would be provide for residents of central Daikundi province with the inauguration of am optic fibre project, officials said on Sunday.
After the launching ceremony, the minister of telecommunicationd and information technology said in Nili the project covering Daikundi, Bamyan and Ghor provinces would be implemented in two years at a cost of $17 million
Amirzai Sangin said the World Bank-funded project would link Daikundi with Herat though Ghor and communication problems of people would be resolved with the implementation of the scheme.
Director of Telecommunication Mohammad Ibrahim Sadiqi told Pajhwok Afghan News work on the optic fiber project was started in Kabul in 2007, with a 3,300-kilometre line connecting Parwan, Balkh, Faryab, Herat and Kandahar provinces with the capital.
Up to 80 percent work on the project has been completed and the rest would be executed until the end of the current year. In addition to the telephone facility, the project will provide internet access to people at a low cost, Deputy Governor Habibullah Dadmansh said.
According to the ministry concerned, there are 20 million people using mobiles and the annual income of the telecommunications sector is $200 million. Hundreds of thousands of people are recruited by communications companies.
