Hyderabad: While the whole country is watching the developments in Afghanistan with bated breath, a Hyderabad company is much more worried about the situation inside that country as it played a very important role in the construction of the Afghan parliament building.
India constructed parliament’s magnificent building at a cost of US$ 90 million. The Hyderabad construction company B Seenaiah & Company (Projects) Limited had the privilege to construct the beautiful Afghan Parliament building with a dome which was a gift from the Indian government to the government of Afghanistan.
However, after the takeover of Kabul by the Taliban, the company officials are worried about the Parliament building’s safety.
The officials of B Seenaiah & Company still remember the days they were in Kabul for executing the Parliament building project which took five years. The building after its completion has become a famous landmark in Kabul. The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had inaugurated the building in 2015.
The company’s managing director remembers those days when about 300 workers from Andhra and Telangana were working on different projects in Afghanistan. The construction workers of Telugu States have worked to build the Kabul Herat road via Khandhar. It was the longest road project in Afghanistan’s history.
In the beginning, a Chinese company was assigned the project but they left the work. After which B Seenaiah & Company has taken up the responsibility to continue with the project.
All the machinery required for the project was brought from outside Afghanistan. The machinery used to be shifted to the work site daily covering a distance of 50 km for security reasons. An American company compensated for the additional construction costs incurred due to such a daily shifting of the construction machinery.
The food for the construction worker was never a problem. But the weather was a challenge to the Indian workers as the temperature during the day remained hot while it dropped to 4 degrees during the night.
The company imported machinery worth 40 crores inside Afghanistan. There was no company willing to do the insurance for the machinery. An American contractor has given in writing to reimburse the losses if any. The construction material for the parliament building was also imported from outside Afghanistan.
The local people were friendly. But in some of the areas, we always faced the risk of Taliban kidnapping. The Taliban did kidnap two company workers who were released later unharmed.
The company officials hoped that the Taliban would take care of the Parliament building.
