BACKGROUND
	PROJECT OBJECTIVES
	CURRENT STATUS
	PHOTOS

This Phase II Task Order builds on Phase I, which will extend through March 2004 subject to modification. Under Phase I, the contractor carried out survey work, prepared a strategy for irrigation rehabilitation, and identified several specific project interventions on selected irrigation systems in need of immediate maintenance/repair. This laid the groundwork for implementation of maintenance/repair and related technical assistance and training activities during Phase II.

Labor-intensive rehabilitation activities started in Helmand and Baghlan provinces, cleaning canals and drains to reestablish water supply and bring back lands under irrigation. These activities are led in collaboration with local NGOs and water user associations and currently employ more than 8,000 Afghan farmers daily.

DAI is also establishing a Policy & Planning Unit that will support and coordinate the activities of selected line development ministries (Agriculture, Irrigation, Rehabilitation and Rural Development, Reconstruction, Mines and Industries, Planning and Public Works) for better water resource management in Afghanistan. This Unit is to be led by Tawab Assafi, a senior Afghan–American water resources engineer. A significant part of this activity will be the capacity building of national and regional water management agencies, notably the existing Helmand-Arghandab Valley Authority, (HAVA), and the Nangarhar Valley Development Authority (NVDA) and other River Basin Agencies or Authorities as established by the Government. The Policy & Planning Unit will notably make recommendations to the President’s office concerning proposed annual budgets for national-level ministries of the Government and regional level entities that affect the water sector. Finally, the Policy & Planning Unit will ensure that planning data relating to the water sector in Afghanistan are collected and analyzed for discussions and decisions, and that option papers are prepared and policy alternatives are proposed for Cabinet consideration and possible actions.