A monument was inaugurated in Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday to remember slain Japanese doctor Tetsu Nakamura and honor his activities for the people of Afghanistan.
The previous government started work on the monument and was completed this week.
The purpose of the monument is to honor the legacy of Tetsu Nakamura in the east of the country, especially in Nangarhar.
Nakamura was a Japanese doctor who spent most of his life in Afghanistan. He was killed in an armed attack in Nangarhar in December 2019.
He devoted a large part of his life to improving the lives of the people of Afghanistan, especially the residents of Nangarhar and Kunar.
He built 11 dams and canals to control the Kunar water so that it can be used for the farming and irrigation of a big number of the lands in Nangarhar.
Nakamura, who had honorary citizenship of Afghanistan and was nicknamed as Kaka Murad, was also the head of the Japanese charity, PMS.
He also helped construct 1,500 wells and provided drinking water for 650,000 people in Nangarhar.
Nakamura worked on development projects in the east of Afghanistan. One of his biggest projects was a 24-kilometer canal that irrigates thousands of acres of land in Nangarhar.
The construction of two mosques and two hospitals is among his other works in the east of the country.
In 2019, he started the construction of the second phase of the canal at a cost of $15 million in the Khiwa or Kuz Kunar district in Nangarhar, but he was killed before the completion of the project.
The residents of Nangarhar, who participated in the opening of the monument, called his death a great loss and said that since then, no significant activity similar to his work has been done in the east of the country.
Abdullah, a resident of Nangarhar, said that Nakamura was an example of true service to the country and the people. He suggested that his unfinished projects should be completed.
“His work was fruitful and his achievements were tangible,” Abdullah said. “Nakamura did many real activities for the people of Afghanistan that no other citizen of the country has ever done. We hope that the Taliban will complete his unfinished projects.”
A PMS official in Nangarhar said a water canal was recently built in the Kuz Kunar district at the cost of $1.5 million and that other projects left unfinished will be completed in near future.
The residents of Nangarhar said they hope Nakamura’s legacy will be continued by his organization as more efforts are needed to be made for reconstruction, especially for farming lands.
