ARA Awards Maintenance Contract of Hairatan-Mazari Sharif railway line

KABUL, Dec. 05 – Afghanistan Railway Authority (ARA) signed a contract with Mansoor Fateh Company for the transfer, maintenance and monitoring of the Haritaan-Mazar-e-Sharif railway line.   This contract was signed between the officials of the said agencies in the presence of the chief director of the affairs department, Honorable Sheikh Hudayt Mawlawi Noorul Haq […]

KABUL, Dec. 05 – Afghanistan Railway Authority (ARA) signed a contract with Mansoor Fateh Company for the transfer, maintenance and monitoring of the Haritaan-Mazar-e-Sharif railway line.

 

This contract was signed between the officials of the said agencies in the presence of the chief director of the affairs department, Honorable Sheikh Hudayt Mawlawi Noorul Haq Anwar, during a press conference at the Government Information and Media Center on Monday.

Honorable Mullah Bakhtur Rahman Sharaft, the head of the railway administration, said that the contract is for 2 years, and the contractor company will be paid 4187832 US dollars per year in exchange for providing services, adding that the previous contract with Sudigana Trans-Uzbek Company was about 15 million US dollars for annual services.

Mr. Sharaf elaborated that based on the contract, the contracting company only provides technical support and all other maintenance and handling activities are managed by the railway administration.

According to the officials of the railway administration, the contract was not implemented properly, services were provided only at one station, additional costs were requested, there was a lack of transparency in the collection of revenue and the contracting company managed large part of the process, were the disadvantages of the previous contract.

 

Officials of the ARA explain that the reduction in the cost of the contract, the expansion of service provision from one station to three stations of Haritaan, Naibabad and Port 5, transparency in revenue collection, training of Afghan technical personnel, Cancellation of additional costs and providing work opportunities to Afghan workers are among the benefits of the new contract.

Bisan Bai Makhanov, Vice President of Mansoor Fateh Company, emphasized on good and timely implementation of the contract, along with his gratitude for the trust of the Islamic Emirate and the cooperation of the Railway Administration, the Ministry of Affairs and the National Procurement Agency.

 

It is worth noting that according to the previous contract, about 15 million US dollars were paid annually for the provision of services in 22 kilometers, while according to the current contract, the annual payment for the provision of services in 106 kilometers is 4.1 million US dollars.