Hundreds of local Afghan construction firms
are benefiting from an IOM programme that has completed 1,100
construction projects in the war-shattered country at a cost of
some US$85 million since 2002.

Completed projects designed to stabilize
communities include hospitals, irrigation canals, public buildings,
roads, bridges and micro hydro power stations in every one of the
country's 34 provinces, as well as more esoteric schemes such as
the installation of solar energy panels on a building housing a
community radio station run by women for women.

The construction programme, funded by USAID
and the UK's DFID, and supervised by IOM engineers, has not only
started to rebuild Afghanistan's shattered infrastructure but has
also breathed new life into the country's moribund construction
industry, with 500 local construction firms now registered with IOM
in Kabul alone.

"It's been nearly two decades since
Afghanistan has had good engineers graduate from its institutions.
Technology has drastically changed since then and IOM's
international engineers have introduced me to new instruments and
methods of construction," says Tani Gulzar, who returned from Saudi
Arabia in 2002 and set up his construction company, JGCC, in
2004.

Gulzar, who started JGCC with five permanent
employees, won an IOM tender to build a school in Parwan province
and hired 30 local labourers, many of whom are now part of his 50
permanent staff. Today JGCC is working on an IOM road construction
project in Khost province and is bidding for another contract to
refurbish a hospital in Kabul.

"Today I have the qualified staff and
expertise to be running four construction projects at once, and
they're all going smoothly," he says. "We have also become much
more aware of issues like security and safety equipment. We don't
let anyone on the site unless they are part of the construction
project," he adds.

"It makes sense to work with local contractors
as large, foreign contractors not only cost more, but they don't
have the local knowledge or equally reliable supply networks," says
IOM's Eliot Hodges, who manages construction projects in Kunduz
province. Citing the case of a USAID-funded girls' dormitory in
Kunduz, he admits that local firms can be slow, but says that
working with them can achieve great results.

IOM has been using local construction
companies since 2002 and by 2005 nearly 100 per cent of its
projects were contracted directly to local companies, building
industry capacity and creating jobs in often desperately poor
communities.

"Communities are more receptive towards our
projects when local construction companies are being used because
they create jobs and provide training," says IOM engineer Bogdan
Danila, who is based in Maimana in Faryab province and trains local
engineers to use new building techniques and new equipment. "We've
also taught them how to safely install wiring and how to improve
the quality of their concrete, which creates longer-lasting
buildings that have a better chance of withstanding earthquakes,"
he adds.

"It's important to get the cooperation and
buy-in of the community. If there is a difference between what has
been prescribed and what the doctor or headmaster needs, IOM always
communicates it to us so we can ensure that the end user is happy
with the result," explains Dean Homleid of USAID, which has awarded
40% of their schools and clinics construction projects in
Afghanistan to IOM.

In addition to promoting on-site training by
international IOM engineers, USAID has also funded a training
centre in Jalalabad providing courses in painting, carpentry,
concrete making, plumbing and electrical work for Afghans involved
in the IOM construction projects that it funds. "We are planning to
write into every contract that a certain percentage of the
workforce be sent to this training," says Homleid.

IOM's Afghan construction programme has also
brought women into the construction workforce for the first time,
with some projects requiring local contractors to employ women and
to provide a separate work area. In Badakshan province, more than
40,000 women have worked on IOM projects in areas including gabion
weaving, sand screening, stone crushing and paint removal from
walls.

For further information, please contact:

 

Rahilla Zafar

IOM Afghanistan

Tel.+93.70066036.

Email: "mailto:rzafar@iomkabul.net" target="_blank" title=
"">rzafar@iomkabul.net