Italians to build houses for Bamiyan cave dwellers

Bamiyan officials said this week that an Italian organization, Vento, in collaboration with the University of Florence in Italy, will build 100 houses for local cave dwellers.

The cost of the project will total $300,000 and work on the houses will start soon, officials said.

For hundreds of years people have lived in the caves, situated around the giant Buddha niches carved out of sandstone cliffs. Currently some estimates say there are about 700 families who call caves their home.

But for years, the situation has been a concern for authorities, especially as the cliffs form part of the Bamiyan UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Officials and experts have said that the longer the caves are occupied, the more damage is done to the site, as families install front doors and windows, build makeshift extensions, and rig up satellite dishes and solar panels.

In a meeting this week with the Bamiyan governor Abdullah Sarhadi, visiting Italian officials from Vento and the university said the houses will be modern and that upgrades will also be done to Zargaran town, in the center of Bamiyan.

The officials said this includes improvements to roads, to alleys and to control of water.

Sarhadi welcomed the initiative and said he supports initiatives on the development and implementation of infrastructure projects in the province.

This project will meanwhile be implemented under the full supervision of the Department of Urban Development and Housing in Bamiyan Province.