KABUL (Pajhwok): Rural development minister-designate Eng. Nasir Ahmad Durrani on Thursday said he would create a department to maintain transparency in the ministry’s affairs.

Durrani, Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah’s pick for the slot, is among 25 cabinet nominees who are expected to appear before the Wolesi Jirga for a vote of confidence next week.
The unity government named the cabinet after missing several deadlines and under pressure from lawmakers, civil society, the general public and the international community.
Durrani told Pajhwok Afghan News during an interview he would review all plans of the ministry to know what programmes needed to be carried out on a priority basis, if he was granted a vote of confidence.
“Similarly, I will create an exclusive department within the ministry for the sake of transparency and enabling workers to perform their duties in an efficient way,” he added.
The minister-designate would try to strengthen coordination among all departments of the ministry and would allow no one to interfere in other’s affairs. He would encourage oversight role for the people, lawmakers and provincial councils.
Durrani said he would replace with long-term projects the schemes which could not continuously contribute to people’s socio-economic development to make beneficiaries self-reliant.
He would outline standards for the implementation of projects and promised no scheme lacking the required standard would be executed.
To a question if he would be able to win a trust vote from the lower house, Durrani replied he had enough experience of working in various capacities in government departments.
He expressed optimism he would be granted the trust vote keeping in view his educational background and experience.
Speaking about his assets, Durrani confirmed making investments in Afghanistan and abroad, but he would not say how much. In the near future, he said, he would reveal his assets to the media.
Durrani is the son of Shah Mohammad and a resident of the Mohammad Agha district of central Logar province. He graduated from the Kabul University Engineering Faculty in 1975 and joined the Ministry of Mines, where he served in various positions. 
In 1981, he went to the Philippine, where he studied management of small mines and their detection and obtained a degrees and appreciation letters. Durrani migrated to Pakistan in 1985 and went to the United States in 1988 and studied reconstruction and development for one year in a Nebraska university.
He returned to Afghanistan with his family in 2009 and was appointed as advisor to the Ministry of Economy and later as deputy economy minister -- a job he held until recently.
Durrani said he had many achievements while working in the Ministry of Mines, including legalising unlawful mining and preventing illegal digging and smuggling of coal in central Bamyan province.
The cabinet nominee said he had been associated with Gulbadin Hekmatyar-led Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan in the past, but currently linked to its non-violent breakaway faction -- led by Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal.
ma/mud