Winter in Afghanistan. Snow can lie so deep it is difficult to see where the road is, let alone pass through.

“The Kottle Deh road was impassable during the winter,” said Mamur Ageel, a resident of the area. “We really struggled to get from one place to the other, and I often saw accidents on this stretch of road.”

The Kottle Deh road connects five Guzars in the area, linking them with the main Bamyan highway. Repairing the road was a priority for the Bamyan Municipality for several years, but funds were not available.

In July 2016, the United Nations Development Programme, through the Local Governance Project (LoGo), provided financing for the service delivery project to repair the road, which caters for at least 3,500 households under the Bamyan Municipality. The Bamyan Municipal Advisory Board (MAB) consulted local citizens on the project. The project disbursed a grant of $ 24,350 for the work. The community provided land for widening of the road.

Mamur explains, “During the repair work, I was a member of the implementation monitoring team comprising MAB and Guzar heads. This project has improved road access for local citizens and reduced the number of accidents. I did not see any car accidents this winter”.

Mahram Ali Ebrahimi, a manager in the municipality, states that rehabilitating the road has resulted in increased municipal revenue for the Nahia and Bamyan Municipality. That means more money to improve local infrastructure and services.