By: Nasria Pashtun and Siddique Ahmed

A group of Japanese engineers, town planners, and other experts in urban planning, (buried under maps, GIS data and piles of paper) are working on the plan for a new city. This city is not going to be in the suburbs of Tokyo or Kawasaki. It is called Deh Sabs and is located in the heart of Kabul. In fact its name implies the aim: to be the New Kabul City.

Deh Sabz district, the new city area, is situated northeast of Kabul City. The Kabul River flows through the district in its southern end and the main highway (Kabul-Jalalabad) passes along it. With the rapid expansion of Kabul, the high rate of rural urban migration, and the destruction left from 30 years of war, most of the basic infrastructure in old Kabul has been heavily damaged. Such damage requires a great deal of investment to rebuild and expand the basic infrastructure.

The largest project under the Afghan National Development Strategy (ANDS) which is one of the current’s government development projects, the New Kabul City, is an independent unit lead by a board of directors comprised of representatives from the Afghan government as well as the private sector. This independent unit is the “Deh Sabz Development Authority” (DCDA).  The minister of Urban Development Mr.Yosuf Pashtun, minister of Agriculture Mr. Mohammad Asif Rahimi, and the Mayor of Kabul Mr.Abdul Ahad Sahibi represent the Afghan government, while C.E.O of Siemens in Afghanistan Mr.Ghulam Sakhi Hassan Zada and Mr. Daud Musa C.E.O of Pashtun Corporation are representing the private sector.

The development of small towns would require a great deal of investment without immediate financial return. Developing a new Kabul city as an extension of the existing city was much cheaper comparatively. “Most importantly, a minimum of 50% of the planned new city area was government land which through development could give a financial return of over 6 billion dollars,” says Mohammad Yousaf Pashtun, Afghanistan’s Minister of Urban Development and Housing (MUDH). “Out of the 6 billion dollars expected return, a minimum of 3 billion dollars are needed to be invested for the development of the infrastructure for 4.5 million people of existing Kabul city.”

A French company named “Architecture Studio” did the initial design but later the master plan for the new city was developed by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Spread over a region of 410 square kilometers in Deh Sabz and 119 square kilometers in Bareek Ab, the New Kabul city is going to be the largest planned city in the history of Afghanistan.

According to DCDA officials, the new city will be completed by 2025. Initially the city will have the capacity for 3 million people and will create jobs for 500,000 people. They also claim that the project will yield an estimated 6 billion dollars out of selling and leasing government land and taxes.

“The project of this kind could change the face of Afghanistan and can generate hope in the future,” said Mahmoud Saikal, Advisor and head of operations for Deh Sabz city development authority (DCDA) to CNN.

A major concern is the funding, according to Mr. Pashtun, “Other donor countries had little interest to invest and develop urban projects. With the exception of urban water supply major donors had always stayed away from funding urban projecst. These financial limitations also force us to delay the production of the new master plan for the new Kabul city.”

The city planners want to integrate urban life with rural life. The villagers are skeptical but after the encouragement from their village elders they have accepted the project.

“People are happy about the new city because we still don’t have a modern city in Afghanistan and this is the first project that has been made for Afghanistan,” says Haji Mir Hazal, head of one of the Deh Sabz villages, “In fact the foreign countries are helping us to make this beautiful city that also makes us very happy” told CNN.

For those who worry about the upcoming election and a new government would delay this project, Mr. Pashtun suggests, “Its importance and the long term life of the project will force the upcoming governments to invest their political prestige in this project.”

It is also notable that around 50,000 people are living in 42 villages in the Deh Sabz area. The land clearance process, usually a very controversial issue in countries like Afghanistan, might be one of the challenges DCDA will be facing in the future. The land clearance process in the area has already begun and so far 550 people have completed the documentation of their land ownership. Among many other factors they have emphasized that the current inhabitants of the area will be the first to make use of the project. They have also considered the fact that the city should be located as far from the villages as possible.

The Supreme Court has assigned a special court for the land clearance process in the Deh Sabz and Bareek Ab. This court will deal only with issues regarding land ownership in the area. DCDA will monitor the special court and report any suspected cases of corruption to the Supreme Court.

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P.S.:  Nasria Pashtun, undergraduate student at AUAF, is the daughter of Mohammad Yousaf Pashtun, Minister of Urban Development and Housing

Tags | Afghanistan, ANDS, DCDA, Deh Sabz, Ministry of Urban Development, Mohammad Yousaf Pashtun, The New Kabul