A Home for Parliament

As would-be parliamentarians await the results from the September 18 election, some 700 workmen are racing to complete a building in which members will debate and exercise their new powers.

Rising from the ruins of a building that was used by parliament in the last years of the reign of King Mohammad Zahir Shah, who was overthrown in 1973, the structure was badly damaged during the internecine conflict of the early Nineties.

Once repaired, it will still only be a temporary home for the parliament, until a new building – paid for by India – is completed.

Located on an acre of land, the interim parliament building lies three kilometres from the presidential palace and not far from the Darulaman Palace, which stands today an imposing skeletal ruin - mute testimony to the destruction caused by the 1992-96 civil war.

"Work has been going on for about a year on the [temporary] parliament, financed out of the government budget, and it has cost 2.5 million US dollars to date," said the deputy minister of housing and urban development, Sayed Sharif Hussaini.

He added that work was progressing quickly and that in the past 45 days, many rooms and other essentials, like parking area, mosque and printing office, had been finished. He said that 90 per cent of the construction was now completed.

The four-storey building has three different sections: one for the Wolesi Jirga or lower house of parliament, one for the Meshrano Jirga or upper house, and a third for administrative offices.

The frantic pace of work can be judged from the fact that 18 workmen are high up on scaffolding in the future Meshrano Jirga, painting the ceiling.

But some of the workforce are sceptical that the renovation will finish by the time the final election results are announced.

"There’s still lots of work left to do,” said one worker. “I don't think it will be finished within two months, either."

No date has yet been set by President Hamed Karzai for the first session of the new parliament.

"The new parliament's first meeting will be held in this building," Dr Azizullah Luddin, head of parliament’s interim secretariat, told IWPR. "The building… has historic value because it was used for parliamentary business during the reign of Mohammad Zahir Shah."

Luddin said there was a five million dollar budget to meet construction expenses, staff and delegates' salaries until the end of the year, and promised, "We will have the building ready between October 15 and early November."

Since the first session is expected to be a crowded gathering, with foreign and other guests in attendance, Hussaini said tents with a televised link to the main hall would be used to accommodate the overflow.

Meanwhile, work has already started on a brand-new building which will be located on a 38,000 square metre plot of land behind the Darulaman Palace.

Hussaini said he himself wrote the blueprint for the structure, which was then designed by Indian engineers. It will consist of three octagonal structures - one each for the Wolesi Jirga and the Meshrano Jirga, and one for offices. There will also be a mosque and a library.

The plans were presented to Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to Kabul in August. Singh laid the foundation stone for the building, which is being paid for by his country. The construction work is expected to take three years.

Amanullah Nasrat is an IWPR staff reporter in Kabul.