CoST Afghanistan

CoST Afghanistan (Member from 2013 to 2021)

Afghanistan worked hard to drive all four features of CoST’s approach during its membership.

Public infrastructure in context

High levels of financial waste are frequently observed on public construction projects in post-conflict states, which can suffer from corruption and a lack of adequate monitoring mechanisms. 

Afghanistan’s road construction in particular was a major absorber of aid money and with a lack of monitoring mechanisms in Afghanistan, high levels of financial waste have been recorded in public construction projects. For instance, the cost of upgrading Kabul’s symbolic airport road, Bibi Mahro, was estimated to be ten times that of other road projects in the country.

In 2012, the government made a series of commitments to fight corruption and improve governance at the Tokyo Conference on Afghanistan. These commitments form the backdrop to various efforts aimed at improving transparency in the country, including joining CoST. The Government of Afghanistan embarked on legislative reform to counteract corruption, including the Afghan Access to Information Law in 2014 and procurement legislation reform in 2015.

CoST Afghanistan: how it all began

Afghanistan joined CoST in 2013 after recommendations made by the Afghanistan Joint Anti-Corruption Monitoring and Evaluation Committee on the need for greater transparency in the infrastructure sector, alongside an Executive Decree passed by President Hamed Karzai in 2012, which focussed on the fight against corruption.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the CoST International Secretariat and the Ministry of Economy, and since then the Ministry championed infrastructure transparency in government. The Secretariat of CoST Afghanistan started its activity in 2016 and was hosted by Integrity Watch Afghanistan.

Scoping Study

CoST Afghanistan produced a scoping study in 2017 which found there were challenges on both the supply and demand side of information and accountability. Regarding the latter, an estimated illiteracy rate of 70 percent and a highly rural population limits the capacity of the media, civil society and citizens to use information to hold the government to account. On the supply side, the continuing flow of off-budget funds from international donors into Afghanistan presented opportunities for funds to be misappropriated. Donors followed their own data publication policies, meaning that use of funds are often not known and escape scrutiny. Furthermore, the security situation created not only operational risks but also risks associated with data publication. To address this, since 2017 CoST Afghanistan carried out a series of capacity building programmes for government entities, private sector, civil society and the media. All the events promoted the culture of transparency, the use of data and information to enhance accountability and citizen-based monitoring of infrastructure projects.

Online data publication (disclosure) platforms

Four online platforms were created by the following bodies with the support of CoST Afghanistan (Figures last updated July 2021)

Between June 2020 and June 2021, the number of projects published on these portals increased from 6386 to 8509. CoST Afghanistan was advocating that the AGEOPS system be used as the government’s primary portal, to prevent duplication of efforts. .

Legal mandate for publication of data and information 

In order to institutionalise the publication of data, CoST Afghanistan signed 12 Memorandums of Understandings with ministries and independent authorities between 2018 and 2019. Based on these MoUs, the ministries and independent authorities committed to:

  • Published information based on the CoST Infrastructure Data Standard (CoST IDS)
  • Engage the public in infrastructure projects
  • Cooperate and comply with the assurance process
  • Reform infrastructure project delivery based on the findings of assurance reports

Independent review of data (assurance)

H.E. Abdullah Abdullah, then-Chief Executive of the Government of Afghanistan

CoST Afghanistan launched its first assurance report in 2018 at a high-level event attended by H.E. Abdullah Abdullah, Chief Executive of the Government of Afghanistan, alongside representatives from the Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, international partners, academia, the private sector and civil society.

The assurance report included independent reviews on eight infrastructure projects with a budget of around USD $150 million and covered sectors including public works, rural rehabilitation, energy and water. The report showed that on average, procuring entities had proactively published 27% of the data from CoST IDS, a relatively low number. In addition, there were significant cost and time overruns recorded: an average of 18% suffered from cost overruns and the average time overrun was around 119%. Construction quality in the selected projects was also a matter of concern.

CoST Afghanistan’s third assurance report was launched in July 2021. The report shows that since the second assurance process in 2019, proactive publication of data dropped by 3.8% to 32%, whilst responses to information requests increased by 9% to 66%. A key finding from the third report was a lack of distinction between the concepts of a project and a contract in the Afghanistan procurement system: project level data points were not collected and published. This report helped to understand the gaps in infrastructure data published in Afghanistan, and how it limited opportunities for transparency.

Promoting business integrity

CoST Afghanistan partnered with the Afghanistan Builders’ Association (ABA) throughout 2020, to help members of the construction industry utilise opportunities to participate in the procurement process. Originally planned as face-to-face meetings, the sessions were adapted to webinar format in line with Covid-19 restrictions. A major takeaway was the importance of dialogue between the public and private sector. This is something that was cited by private sector participants as key to increasing trust, and therefore participation, in public procurement. As well as providing opportunities for such dialogue between government ministers and private sector representatives, CoST Afghanistan was facilitating the ABA’s five-year strategy to promote greater coordination between construction companies as they bid for public tenders.

Social accountability in Afghanistan

Students at the awareness session in Nangarhar University, Afghanistan

CoST Afghanistan conducted several public awareness sessions for universities in Afghanistan during 2019 on the theme of social accountability, which took place in both the capital and provinces. These sessions attracted hundreds of students eager to learn more about project monitoring, and platforms were created as a result for citizens to share issues of concern regarding infrastructure projects.

CoST Afghanistan engaged stakeholders via the following activities:

  • Weekly media monitoring which is shared with stakeholders
  • Sharing progress and updates with the public via social media channels
  • Producing a quarterly newsletter
  • Hosting private sector committees

CoST Afghanistan independent review (assurance) reports

First Assurance Report
Second Assurance Report
Third Assurance Report

End of Membership

CoST Afghanistan became an inactive member in 2021 and a year later the membership was officially withdrawn by the CoST Board following the applicable policies.