Emergency Urban Reconstruction Project

Project Narrative

More than two decades of war has not only devastated Afghanistan’s infrastructure but has deprived the country of new investment which would have raised services above pre-war levels. As a result, most Afghans have little or no access to conventional urban services. The urban challenge was all the more daunting as a result of the backlog in land and housing needs caused by the years of turmoil and a rigid master planning system; a deteriorated housing stock and pressure to make more land available for housing, and high levels of informal tenancy with growing levels of land disputation. The project  provided selected infrastructure service delivery and shelter in Kabul and two provincial towns. This was achieved by carrying out urgent reconstruction and rehabilitation of services; support for the integration of neighbourhoods into the urban fabric through land titling/registration and improved land administration and enhancement of the managerial capacity of the Ministry of Urban Development and related agencies.

Key services provided

Defined emergency remedial action to address uncertainty in land ownership created by the antiquated land registry, the return of refugees and the concentration of internally displaced persons in Kabul. Assisted the Judicial Reform Commission in the first stage of reform to improve the management of the land registry (Makhzan) to facilitate resolution of disputes and facilitate access to land for urgently needed urban renewal projects. In collaboration with relevant agencies of the Islamic Transitional State of Afghanistan, designed the land regularization component of the Emergency Urban Reconstruction Project as a pilot study to accelerate recognition of rights to land and to test procedures for registration of these rights in the central registration system, or Makhzan. With a focus on formalization of existing occupation in urban Kabul, systematic titling techniques using appropriate technological solutions were introduced to lay the foundation for broader national reforms to streamline the processes that sustain land administration and encourage the re-introduction of a formal land market.