KABUL, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan's National Procurement Commission has approved 17 projects valued at more than 1 billion afghanis (over 15.6 million US dollars), the office of the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs said on Wednesday.

The commission, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, reviewed 42 proposed procurement initiatives across multiple sectors and approved 17 of them.

Among the approved schemes are the construction of a university dormitory in Panjshir, a new medical faculty building at Badakhshan University, the Kunar-Nuristan road project, public hospitals in Ghazni, Faryab and Nangarhar provinces, and electricity transmission and distribution networks in several provinces.

The initiatives are expected to generate thousands of jobs for local communities and form part of the government's broader push to revive the economy after decades of conflict.

Afghan authorities have signaled plans to roll out additional infrastructure and development projects financed from the domestic budget in order to tackle ongoing economic challenges and create further employment opportunities.