A landmark $4.2 million dollar Australian Government-funded road project in Uruzgan’s Mirabad Valley is complete, opening up a former insurgent safe haven to commerce and government services.
Until recent years the Mirabad Valley in the province’s east was the scene of significant fighting between joint Australian-Afghan forces and insurgents, which cost three Australian lives.
The 14 kilometre sealed road features 49 culverts, five major causeways and one bridge along its length and has slashed the time it takes to access the provincial capital, Tarin Kot.
Colonel Simon Stuart, Commander of Combined Team Uruzgan, returning from the final inspection of the road, said it would forever change the lives of the people in the valley.
“Roads matter. They matter in this province because they are a means of connecting the people with their government. They promote better trade, access to markets; they allow health and education to get out to the further reaches of the province, and they are a real way of connecting communities,” Colonel Stuart said.
Corporal Stephen Bristow from the 7th Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment Task Group provided security for the final inspection of the road and said his last visit to the valley in 2009 was very different.
“We are seeing a lot more ANA and ANP presence in Uruzgan now but especially in these sorts of outlying regions. In 2008 and 2009 there were only a few ANA [Afghan National Army] and ANP [Afghan National Police], but now there are so many more out here with lots of checkpoints and a lot more people in those checkpoints doing an effective job,” Corporal Bristow said.
Sergeant Daniel George was the project supervisor and said the local contractor who built the road, under supervision by Australian Army engineers, had done a good job for the local people by building a road that would provide better access for years into the future.
“The road will require very little maintenance from the government for many years to come,” Sergeant George said.
The 14 kilometre stretch will eventually connect to a 27 kilometre all-weather gravel road, which is being funded by the Australian Government’s international development agency, AusAID, under their $25 million Uruzgan Rural Access Program.
Work on the Mirabad road extension is expected to commence later in 2013.
