KABUL, Dec 1: Chinese engineering firm China Railway Shisiju Group Corp has won a 26-million euro ($31 million) European Commission contract for the first phase of reconstruction of the main road linking Kabul with Pakistan.

A European Commission news release seen on Monday said the contract covered the cost of renovating a 75-km stretch of road linking the towns of Sarobi and Jalalabad, and major work was expected to start in the middle of next month. It said the contract would signal the start of a two-stage project costing more than 65 million euros ($78 million) to rehabilitate the vital trade corridor to Pakistan, which has fallen into disrepair during more than two decades of war.

The EC statement said extensive repair of the highway, including the reconstruction of tunnels and bridges, should reduce the journey time from Kabul to the Pakistani border to about four hours in 2005 from around seven currently. The second stage of the project, from Sarobi to Kabul, is expected to begin in the spring.

In a parallel project, the Pakistani government is rehabilitating the 70 km of road between Jalalabad and the border crossing at Torkhum.—Reuters