After three decades of war, scrap metal has become one of Afghanistan’s “natural” resources.
Old military equipment such as Soviet tanks and other metal vehicles and destroyed buildings have all become sources of metal, available to be reprocessed and used to make new metal products.
The Afghan government recently entered the metal recycling business in Kabul. In early February, officials sold 750 old public Millie Buses, most of them destroyed during the urban battles of the 1990s.
This is the first time that the government has announced the sale of scrap metal. The normal route for such metal is illegal: smuggling to neighbouring countries for reprocessing.
It is hoped that a steel processing capacity will be developed in Kabul, like the factory that opened last year in Herat. The Afghan Folad factory employs more than 100 workers who make steel building products.
The initiative to process metal in Kabul will help the government reduce the eyesore created by the wrecked buses, which have become surrounded by garbage and other unpleasant waste.
Selling the metal will also make money for the government to spend on development projects.
Officials have committed to sell the metal in a transparent, three-step bidding process. They also hope it will develop a domesic metal recycling market. That way, Afghan processors will benefit from business previously done in Pakistan and the metal will be available for use in Afghanistan.
Old metal is everywhere around the country; including governmental compounds, sidewalks, highways, rivers, mountains and deserts. Besides large objects like vehicles and their discarded parts, scrap metal comes from broken appliances, wood stoves, and even drink cans made of valuable aluminium.
The department has already sold the 750 buses to an individual who bought the buses for 9,300 afghanis each, officials said.
After all the buses are sold from three compounds in the capital Kabul (Zinda Banan, Khoshal Khan and Shah Shahed areas), they will start selling old Russian-made trucks the government owns.
Recently Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s cabinet decided to rid the country of old metal. His cabinet created a commission to supervise this effort. The panel includes members from the ministries of commerce, finance, mines, justice, and the National Environmental Protection Agency.
The commission has already ordered each government ministry to gather their scrap metals, including old weapons, and put the material in once place.
Governmental officials hope they will earn tens of thousands of dollars from these metals. The money will be used in development projects.
“We will sell the metals which are useless, old and corroding,” Jan Mohammad Mohmand, chief executive for the used metal sales board and a member of the finance ministry, told Sada-e Azadi.
Old military equipment such as Soviet tanks and other metal vehicles and destroyed buildings have all become sources of metal, available to be reprocessed and used to make new metal products.
The Afghan government recently entered the metal recycling business in Kabul. In early February, officials sold 750 old public Millie Buses, most of them destroyed during the urban battles of the 1990s.
This is the first time that the government has announced the sale of scrap metal. The normal route for such metal is illegal: smuggling to neighbouring countries for reprocessing.
It is hoped that a steel processing capacity will be developed in Kabul, like the factory that opened last year in Herat. The Afghan Folad factory employs more than 100 workers who make steel building products.
The initiative to process metal in Kabul will help the government reduce the eyesore created by the wrecked buses, which have become surrounded by garbage and other unpleasant waste.
Selling the metal will also make money for the government to spend on development projects.
Officials have committed to sell the metal in a transparent, three-step bidding process. They also hope it will develop a domesic metal recycling market. That way, Afghan processors will benefit from business previously done in Pakistan and the metal will be available for use in Afghanistan.
Old metal is everywhere around the country; including governmental compounds, sidewalks, highways, rivers, mountains and deserts. Besides large objects like vehicles and their discarded parts, scrap metal comes from broken appliances, wood stoves, and even drink cans made of valuable aluminium.
The department has already sold the 750 buses to an individual who bought the buses for 9,300 afghanis each, officials said.
After all the buses are sold from three compounds in the capital Kabul (Zinda Banan, Khoshal Khan and Shah Shahed areas), they will start selling old Russian-made trucks the government owns.
Recently Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s cabinet decided to rid the country of old metal. His cabinet created a commission to supervise this effort. The panel includes members from the ministries of commerce, finance, mines, justice, and the National Environmental Protection Agency.
The commission has already ordered each government ministry to gather their scrap metals, including old weapons, and put the material in once place.
Governmental officials hope they will earn tens of thousands of dollars from these metals. The money will be used in development projects.
“We will sell the metals which are useless, old and corroding,” Jan Mohammad Mohmand, chief executive for the used metal sales board and a member of the finance ministry, told Sada-e Azadi.
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