Kabul, 08 February 2018,

The Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan remains fully committed to the implementation of the New Urban Agenda (NUA), the United Nations road map for sustainable urbanization adopted in Quito, Ecuador during the Third International Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, Habitat III, in October 2016.

The New Urban Agenda recognizes the strategic importance of urbanization as a tool for achieving prosperity, peace and job creation in our rapidly growing urban areas. The UN calls for a series of five actions to effectively address the complex challenges affecting our cities, namely urban poverty, inequalities, environmental degradation, traffic jams among others.

The establishment of National Urban Policies altogether with proper urban legislation, efficient urban planning and design, and municipal finances, all of them locally implemented, are key tools to take into consideration while addressing urban problems at both national and local levels.

Indeed, one of the novelties of the New Urban Agenda is the reinforced dialogue between national and local governments. Local governments were historically left to deal with many urban issues without the support of higher levels of government. The New Urban Agenda recognizes the leading role of national governments in the definition and implementation of National Urban Policies.

In line with this pioneering vision, the so-called new urban paradigm, the Government of National Unity has already started to develop a National Urban Policy as enshrined in the Urban National Priority Programme (UNPP). The UNPP calls for establishing a common vision and an urban development policy at national, regional and city level to manage orderly urban growth. In Afghanistan, a country affected by longstanding conflict which has led to large numbers of internally displaced persons and returning refugees, cities are an opportunity for growth, innovation and stability. Indeed, the Afghan population is expected to double within the next 15 years with the urban population reaching 50% of the total population.

Apart from the National Urban Policy, Afghanistan is one of the few countries in the world that has taken systematic actions to comprehensively implement the different pillars of the New Urban Agenda, through an innovative programme called “City for All” (CFA).

CFA, a Government-led programme supported by the European Union and USAID, involves improving regulatory frameworks, registration of informal properties, strategic planning, and the implementation of an improved municipal revenue system.

This integrated intervention, with technical support from UN-Habitat, will involve the registration of more than 1 million properties through the issuance of occupancy certificates (OC), enhancing tenure security for more than 5 million urban residents. The programme will also expand access to basic services for 2.8 million citizens through the implementation of service delivery and infrastructure projects based on municipal and district (local) level strategic action plans, and in full cooperation with communities. The financing of these projects will be done through the improved collection of a municipal service (safayi) fees in addition to grants from the programme., 8,000 informal properties have already paid the equivalent amount of US$ 500,000 in safayi fees since CFA began supporting the safayi process in September 2017.

At UN-Habitat Afghanistan, we are proud of the commitment of the national and municipal authorities to sustainable urbanization. Investing in sustainable urbanization shows the foresight required for equitable prosperity and growth. This week Malaysia is hosting the 9^th World Urban Forum in its capital, Kuala Lumpur, under the theme “Cities 2030: Cities for All”.  Representatives of Afghanistan’s City for All programme are already in Kuala Lumpur and are showcasing CFA as one of the pioneering projects in the local implementation of the New Urban Agenda.

Afghanistan Delegation at the networking event “Unlocking Cities for All in Afghanistan: Linking Land, Finance and Planning Systems”, 11 February 2018, Kuala Lumpur.

Maimunah Mohd Sharif, UN-Habitat Executive Director, meets with H.E. Abdul Baqi Popal, Deputy Minister for Municipalities of Afghanistan, on the occasion of WUF9, 10 February 2018, Kuala Lumpur.

For more information, please contact UN-Habitat’s Head of Communications in Afghanistan, Mr. Koussay Boulaich,Koussay.boulaich@un.org