Sheep are seen in Dehsabz, 20 km (12 miles) northeast of Kabul
© AFP/File Massoud Hossaini

KABUL (AFP) - As sheep graze in silence, a military convoy speeds off to the US military base at Bagram. It is dry and barren, hot and inhospitable.

But the government has grand plans for this 500-square-kilometre (200-square-mile) triangle of flat land surrounded by grey mountains.

It sees a "new Kabul" of streams, parks, glossy shopping malls and homes for three million people centred around a lake fed from the surrounding hills.

Concept designs drawn up for the metropolis show a "humble and eco-friendly" city with an industrial park powered by solar and wind energy, modern low-rise buildings and a world-class airport.

It is a vision that Dehsabz City Development Authority chief Mohmoud Saikal holds dear, although critics scoff that it is an attempt to recreate Dubai in a country that cannot even offer the majority of its people the most basic living conditions.

"It's no doubt very difficult, but we can do it," Saikal said.

An Afghan Kochi nomad looks after her sheep in Dehsabz
© AFP/File Massoud Hossaini

The ambitious project has been included in the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS), a 50.1-billion-dollar reconstruction blueprint the government will present to donors in Paris on Thursday.

Among the requests for huge development projects is one for 500 million dollars to speed up the initial infrastructure for the new city plan, in which the Japanese government has also been involved through its aid agency JICA.

"It's mainly a private sector venture," Saikal said.

"But in support of the infrastructure, financing of the initial phases, there is a call for half a billion dollars as a grant and 1.5 billion in concessional loans, over five years," he said.

"In Paris, we will also be looking for the French private sector and others around the world to participate as developers in the project."

The venture is expected to cost about 50 billion dollars, some of which would come from the sale and lease of government land, as well as taxes, he said.

If all goes to plan, work would begin next year and be completed by 2025.

An Afghan Kochi nomad looks after her sheep in Dehsabz
© AFP/File Massoud Hossaini

This new Shangri-La is intended to relieve pressure on the capital, a traffic-choked city that is home to about 4.5 million people even though it was originally intended for about half a million.

The 1992-1996 civil war was fought over Kabul, leaving the city in ruins that still exist today and up to 80,000 people dead.

The ouster of the Taliban government in late 2001 saw about four million Afghans return from exile, with many crowding into Kabul along with job seekers from the provinces.

About 65 percent of the capital's population live in illegal mudbrick homes without running water or power, authorities say.

The ANDS says only 14 percent of people in the city use flushing toilets and just two percent are connected to a sewerage system.

Across the country, about 20 percent of the population have access to intermittent public power; in Kabul it is a few hours every couple of days.

Saikal said that Dehsabz is intended to address these problems.

But not everyone believes the time is right for a new city.

"No one expects donors to be tripping over themselves to fund a new Kabul city when there are so many other priorities facing Afghanistan at this time," said a Western diplomat who asked not to be identified.

"We consider building governance including the security institutions, supporting the private sector and agriculture and energy need to be key areas that we focus on."

An urban development expert, who also did not want to be identified because of sensitivities around the plan, said the project would divert resources from the capital, which is in desperate need of reconstruction.

"It's very unrealistic," said the Westerner.

He characterised the plan as having "a little bit of naivety, a lot of ambition" and "a lot of potential corruption".

"The city is in crisis. They are talking of something (like) 'we'll turn Afghanistan into Dubai'. It's a joke when people talk like that," he said.

©AFP