Grant Aid to Afghanistan for the "Terminal Construction Project at Kabul International Airport (detailed design)"

August 21, 2004

1. The Government of Japan has decided to extend grant aid of up to 87 million yen to the Transitional Administration of Afghanistan for the purpose of contributing to the implementation of the "Project for Construction of the Terminal of Kabul International Airport (detailed design)." The documents regarding this grant aid were exchanged between Ambassador to Afghanistan, Mr. Kinichi Komano from the Japanese side and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah on August 21 (Saturday) in Kabul.
2. After experiencing long years of war, Afghanistan is now carrying forward the peace process and reconstruction based on the Bonn Agreement. As a landlocked country, reconstruction of Afghanistan's air transportation is crucial to ensure the smooth flow of people and goods with foreign countries as well as for the steady implementation of reconstruction assistance. In particular, the current situation is that the facilities of the only international airport in the country, Kabul International Airport, were destroyed through the war, and the airport is now operating due to the emergency aid provided by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), World Bank and others.
   Although improvements to facilities and equipment of the existing airport terminal are underway, including the implementation of the "Project for Improvement of Equipment of the Kabul International Airport" by Japan in FY2003, the passenger terminal building is now chronically lacking in space to cope with the number of passengers at peak times, and necessary facilities are also lacking. In addition, as the passengers for both international and domestic flights are concentrated in one terminal, the airport faces a problem whereby essential security counter-terrorism concerns cannot be addressed.
   Under such circumstances, the Transitional Administration of Afghanistan established the "Project for Construction of the Terminal of Kabul International Airport" which lays out a plan for the existing airport terminal to be used exclusively for domestic flights and for the construction of a new terminal west of the current one to serve international flights. This Project also includes development of aprons, electricity facilities, facilities for the supply and disposal of water, and boarding bridges as well as provision of equipment including aircraft tow tractors, x-ray inspection machines and metal detectors. The Transitional Administration of Afghanistan has requested funds from the Government of Japan to implement this Project.
3. The implementation of this Project will enable drastic reductions in the time required for boarding and immigration procedures and will promote the flow of people and goods. At the same time, as international and domestic services will each be assigned to a designated terminal, it will be possible to apply security measures such as immigration control as counter-terrorism measures.
4. This grant aid is to be implemented as part of humanitarian and reconstruction assistance the Government of Japan announced at the International Conference on Afghanistan which was held in Berlin in March 2004.