The local officials of Parwan have told TOLOnews that the work inside the Salang tunnels is going on intensively and efforts are being made to complete it before the winter season.

Officials, without announcing the exact date of opening the Salang highway to traffic, said that the work on the northern part of the tunnels is about to be completed.

Earlier, the Ministry of Public Works said that the work inside the tunnels would take three months.

“The effort is to open the highway to traffic before the winter and before the cold, and if there is a delay, it will be for the sake of the work process going well,” said

Mohammad Edris Anwari, deputy of the Parwan governor.

“Work on this part has been completed 80 percent, if Allah wills it will be complete before winter,” said Azizullah Omari, governor of Parwan.

Meanwhile, the officials of the contractor companies have said that the severity of the cold and the rain and snow have caused the speed of work inside the tunnels to slow down.

“It's normal, sometimes it snows but we are prepared,” said Wiseuddin, a contractor.

Passengers and drivers have said that if the Salang highway will not be open in the coming winter, it will be impossible to travel through the alternative routes of Salang.

“We came from Ghorband and Shiber, we have been on our way for five nights. The road is very bad. We ask the government to open the highway,” said Daad Mohammad, a driver.

The reconstruction work on 80 kilometers of Salang highway, including the tunnels, has been given by the Ministry of Public Works to two domestic companies.