26th May 2019, Kabul. Kabul Municipality is working in the beautification of its streets and avenues through mural art paintings in T-Walls (security concrete walls). The initiative is part of the Clean and Green Cities (CGC) programme jointly launched with UN-Habitat and aims at converting the Kabuli grey concrete walls into colorful mural arts highlighting the identity and values of the community.

“We are on a mission to transform Kabul city into a beautiful city by painting historical sites on the ugly concrete walls, transforming T-Walls into P-Walls (Peace Walls)”, Mr. Ahmed Behzad Ghyasi, Director of Sanitation of Kabul Municipality, said in front of the Darulaman Palace T-walls, already converted into beautiful mural arts.

The beautification activities create job opportunities for thirty-eight graduated art students (26 male/12 female) from different universities who will give a new vibrant and colorful image to the city in more than 5,600 m2.

Miss Basira Shahnavaz, 23 years old, is one of the female artists who thanked Clean and Green Cities for creating a job for her in her field of study. “If I did not have this, I would be jobless, because it is not easy to find a job in Kabul related to your field of study”.

Zohal, another female artist participating in this initiative stressed that” these kinds of projects were previously implemented by the private sector, but now are implemented by government institutions and this is a sign of hope for our country”. “I am so optimistic about our future”, she added.

These activities are part of the Clean and Green City, a leading programme assisting Afghan municipalities in improving urban services. UN-Habitat has technically assisted Kabul Municipality in the implementation of this programme in close coordination with the Department of Sanitation. Clean and Green City is a USAID and EU funded project.