Sunday, January 15, 2006
News RhetIraq: Iraqi Infrastructure
Source: The Observer via Guardian UK
Quotes: From article titled, "Why the lights are dimmed in Baghdad"
Amec, the British infrastructure project manager, is warning that much of the reconstruction work it has done in Iraq in the past 18 months could be wiped out if funding for programmes is scaled back.
The prediction comes a week after reports indicated that the White House would not seek additional funds for rebuilding the country once the $18.4bn agreed by Congress in autumn 2003 has been spent.
Amec, through a joint venture with US engineer Fluor, won several major contracts in Iraq from the Coalition Provisional Authority, the interim body that subsequently handed over to the Iraqi government. In March 2004 the joint venture won a $500m deal to rebuild electricity infrastructure and secured a $1.1bn contract to restore its water system. It also has a smaller contract for environmental work.
Amec says the work it has done may not last long. A spokesman said: 'Recently, as much as 25 per cent of work completed has been repairing infrastructure damaged by insurgents. If funding levels are not maintained, insurgent activity could quickly [undo] much of our work over the past 18 months.'
Graham Hand of the British Consultants and Contractors Bureau says that of about 30 British contractors in Iraq two years ago, there are now only half a dozen there. 'When companies first went out, they were told by the government that it was difficult, but would get better. It has got worse.'
Andy Bearpark, former head of operations at the Coalition Provisional Authority and now a UK-based consultant, says: 'The experience of reconstruction has been expensive, difficult and slow. People have not seen the improvements they thought they were going to see. The result is you get an Iraqi population that is disaffected.'
Despite Amec's claim that it has nearly finished what it was asked to do, Iraq's infrastructure appears to be in a worse condition that it was before the war. For example, the electricity supply is still around 4,000 megawatts, about the pre-war level. On average, there is 12 hours of supply a day. Meanwhile, oil production is 1.1 million barrels a day, below pre-war levels.
Quotes: From article titled, "Why the lights are dimmed in Baghdad"
Amec, the British infrastructure project manager, is warning that much of the reconstruction work it has done in Iraq in the past 18 months could be wiped out if funding for programmes is scaled back.
The prediction comes a week after reports indicated that the White House would not seek additional funds for rebuilding the country once the $18.4bn agreed by Congress in autumn 2003 has been spent.
Amec, through a joint venture with US engineer Fluor, won several major contracts in Iraq from the Coalition Provisional Authority, the interim body that subsequently handed over to the Iraqi government. In March 2004 the joint venture won a $500m deal to rebuild electricity infrastructure and secured a $1.1bn contract to restore its water system. It also has a smaller contract for environmental work.
Amec says the work it has done may not last long. A spokesman said: 'Recently, as much as 25 per cent of work completed has been repairing infrastructure damaged by insurgents. If funding levels are not maintained, insurgent activity could quickly [undo] much of our work over the past 18 months.'
Graham Hand of the British Consultants and Contractors Bureau says that of about 30 British contractors in Iraq two years ago, there are now only half a dozen there. 'When companies first went out, they were told by the government that it was difficult, but would get better. It has got worse.'
Andy Bearpark, former head of operations at the Coalition Provisional Authority and now a UK-based consultant, says: 'The experience of reconstruction has been expensive, difficult and slow. People have not seen the improvements they thought they were going to see. The result is you get an Iraqi population that is disaffected.'
Despite Amec's claim that it has nearly finished what it was asked to do, Iraq's infrastructure appears to be in a worse condition that it was before the war. For example, the electricity supply is still around 4,000 megawatts, about the pre-war level. On average, there is 12 hours of supply a day. Meanwhile, oil production is 1.1 million barrels a day, below pre-war levels.
