File photo: CGTN

KABUL, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Seventy-seven development projects have been putting into use and work on 91 other projects started in Afghanistan's eastern province of Laghman, the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development said on Monday.

"Following his visit to the Afghanistan's eastern region, Afghan Minster of Rural Rehabilitation and Development Mujiburrahman Karimi inaugurated 77 completed projects, costing 300 million afghani (about 3.8 million U.S. dollars) in Laghman, with large mountainous and arable lands," the ministry said in a statement.

The statement added that work on up to 91 projects, including projects for dams, canals, roads, river bank supportive walls, potable water, have also started in the province, said the statement.

In the meantime, the statement added that 389 more development projects worth 460 million afghani (some 5.8 million U.S. dollars), benefiting over 70,000 households, were expected to be launched in Laghman, with Mehtarlam as its capital, 90 km east of Kabul.

Over 54 percent of Afghan people are still living under poverty line, despite reports about growing reconstruction and rebuilding process in the militancy-torn country.