Local officials in Balkh province announced the completion of work along the riverbank of the Amu Darya River in Shortepa district. 

According to the officials, the work on the riverbank of the Amu Darya River was started in this district last year and now has been completed, at a cost of more than six million afghani. 

“Last year in (Dalwa), work was started and finally the residents of Shortepa district witnessed that today we completed work on it,” said Sayed Ghulam Mashwani, head of the project on the Amu Darya river. 

“More than six million Afghanis have been spent here. Thousands of bags were used here,” said Abdul Hakim Haji Hekmat, head of the river region in the north. 

Residents of the district welcomed the completion of the riverbank project of the Amu Darya river, but that more permanent structures will need to be built.

“In the future, all the areas of Shortepa district should be made more permanent along the riverbank of the Amu Darya,” said Juma Murad, an elder in Shortepa district. 

“People's gardens, crops, agricultural lands, and people's houses were all destroyed, the water destroyed everything,” said Ghulam Nabi, a Shortepa resident. 

The deputy Balkh governor said that more permanent structures will be built along the Amu Darya River begin soon. 

“It is a big project and expensive and it will take time,” said Noor Hadi Abu Idris. 

Flooding around the river has destroyed a lot of agricultural land and many residential houses and public facilities in Takhar, Kunduz, Balkh, and Jawzjan provinces. It has caused huge financial losses for the residents of these provinces.