Afghanistan currently faces serious unemployment, with severe environmental disaster, drought, lack of drinking water, electricity, unhealthy sanitation systems, severe congestion, and the poorest air quality in the world. Afghanistan, with 90 percent of its infrastructure and buildings destroyed, has hardly begun the reconstruction process. Other than a few minor individual repair work at a very slow pace, there aren’t any encouraging signs of reconstruction or development.
Over 16 million people are in need of urgent housing and shelter. We estimate the housing demand in Afghanistan to generate over $12 billon within the next 10 to 15 years. In order to overcome this serious problem, a sustainable housing development system compatible to the region’s cultural and environmental requirements is a must. The traditional building crafts/systems have worked in Afghanistan for many centuries. We strongly believe that the traditional building crafts, with some improvements, could be successfully continued. Under the current conditions in Afghanistan, people can easily build them as most of the materials are abundantly available, environmentally safe and above all, affordable, which will make it possible on a limited budget for more people to have houses.
We propose the Village of Hope concept as a pilot project that would consist of 500 houses and the supporting facilities for 6,000 people that would cost approximately $35 million including the cost to build infrastructure i.e., roads, sidewalks, street lights, landscaping, water supplies, storm and sewer systems (including labor, material, architectural, engineering and project management services). It would take 5,000 workers approximately 24 to 36 months to complete this village. Upon availability of funding, the program could be implemented on a national scale to build 100,000 houses per year, enabling thousands of young Afghans to work and learn skills on these construction jobs.
Azizi Architects, Inc. would like to team up with investors, developers, and land owners to implement this undertaking in any major city in Afghanistan. If you are interested in getting involved in this project, please contact us.