25 May 2011
An innovative new business park will unlock the immense business potential of Helmand Province in Afghanistan, creating hundreds of new jobs and safeguarding existing ones. The park is part of a wider package of aid from the UK to Helmand province, where about a fifth of the UK’s aid to Afghanistan is targeted.
Work is due to start imminently on the new park, which is on the outskirts of Helmand’s commercial capital Lashkar Gah.
Before and after: What the site looks like now and an artist's impression of how the park will look once completed. Pictures: Mott MacDonald
Once the initial clearance has been done and basic services installed, work is planned quickly to move onto the next stage of construction where offices, warehouses and processing units will be constructed. It is expected that the first businesses will be able to open their doors to customers in the autumn.
The park will be the newest and one of the most hi-tech of its kind in Afghanistan. It will be situated beside the upgraded Bost Airport, also rehabilated by the UK, which now has regular commercial flights linking it with the rest of Afghanistan.
The park will have potential for up to 15 businesses, creating 750 jobs directly, and creating a further 3,000 wider jobs which will the park will support via improved access to markets.
An artist's impression of the new business park. Picture: Mott MacDonald
In addition, UK investment will include detailed business advice to 25 small or medium-sized enterprises, and 75 community enterprises – leading to a further 500 jobs in Helmand.
DFID is also starting a new programme of vocational training in Helmand which will train 12,000 students in vital skills in such as electrics, plumbing, welding and plastering allowing the next generation of Afghans the opportunity to earn an income and to lift themselves out of poverty.