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When in Baghdad, do like in America...oh yes!
October 27, 2009
Auditor Faults Work on U.S. Embassy in Iraq
By JOHN LELAND
BAGHDAD — As the measure of success in Iraq shifts from peacekeeping to reconstruction, one showcase for American aptitude is the new United States Embassy, the most expensive in the world. The embassy compound, which cost more than $700 million to build, covers 104 acres along the Tigris River.
....according to a report issued last week by the State Department’s inspector general, the complex is a monument to shoddy work and incompetent oversight. Walls and walkways are cracking, sewage gas flows back into residences, wiring is substandard, fire protection systems are faulty and other safety provisions are not up to contract specifications. The report says that construction “was significantly deficient in multiple areas” and may not meet safety codes. It called on the State Department to seek $132 million in damages from the main construction company, First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting, which received $470 million for work on the embassy.
The department’s Bureau for Overseas Building Operations is considering whether to seek reimbursement, said a spokesman, Jonathan Blyth, who added in an e-mail message that “the deficiencies noted in the report are not adversely affecting embassy operations.”
The embassy’s scale is massive; its aesthetic appeal is minimal. The campus, at the edge of the fortified Green Zone, comprises 27 buildings in boxy, tan concrete, including apartments for 1,100 people. Outside the buildings are “duck and cover” pillboxes and patches of brown dirt.
Rockets fired from across the river have periodically landed near the compound, including during a recent visit by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
The 57-page report details problems with water, wiring, design, automation, sewage, walls, ceilings, power generators, emergency safe areas and structural reinforcement to protect the embassy from earthquakes. It says that First Kuwaiti charged for $33 million worth of design services that were either incomplete or undocumented. Executives at First Kuwaiti did not respond to a request for comment. Think Haliburton....
The construction was also mismanaged by the government overseers, the report says. In order to speed construction, the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations created a standalone agency to act as contractor, outside of the normal review process. This agency failed to enforce contracts or to maintain quality control, the report says. Think Cheney....
The problems on such a high-profile project reinforce doubts about America’s reconstruction capacity, recently expressed by Iraq’s minister of planning, Ali Ghalib Baban. “America spent a lot of money for rehabilitation of hospitals and built small medical centers,” he said, “but the Ministry of Health found many technical faults in the design of the buildings. Those problems impede us from using the facilities.” Think Katrina....
When budgeted in 2005, the embassy was supposed to cost $592 million, but costs rose as the agency’s needs changed. Think fraud....
The errors listed in the report are large and small. The inspector general called for the bureau to seek $4.6 million in restitution from First Kuwaiti to repair safe areas for staff members, which were not built to specification; $14 million to install seismic bracing against earthquakes; $11 million to compensate for an inefficient power plant; $4.6 million to replace fire protection systems; $1.5 million to repair faulty plumbing in 200 locations where sewage gas could escape, ad infinitum....
Think Justice...think Obama :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/wo...html?ref=world
October 27, 2009
....according to a report issued last week by the State Department’s inspector general, the complex is a monument to shoddy work and incompetent oversight. Walls and walkways are cracking, sewage gas flows back into residences, wiring is substandard, fire protection systems are faulty and other safety provisions are not up to contract specifications. The report says that construction “was significantly deficient in multiple areas” and may not meet safety codes. It called on the State Department to seek $132 million in damages from the main construction company, First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting, which received $470 million for work on the embassy.
The department’s Bureau for Overseas Building Operations is considering whether to seek reimbursement, said a spokesman, Jonathan Blyth, who added in an e-mail message that “the deficiencies noted in the report are not adversely affecting embassy operations.”
The embassy’s scale is massive; its aesthetic appeal is minimal. The campus, at the edge of the fortified Green Zone, comprises 27 buildings in boxy, tan concrete, including apartments for 1,100 people. Outside the buildings are “duck and cover” pillboxes and patches of brown dirt.
Rockets fired from across the river have periodically landed near the compound, including during a recent visit by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
The 57-page report details problems with water, wiring, design, automation, sewage, walls, ceilings, power generators, emergency safe areas and structural reinforcement to protect the embassy from earthquakes. It says that First Kuwaiti charged for $33 million worth of design services that were either incomplete or undocumented. Executives at First Kuwaiti did not respond to a request for comment. Think Haliburton....
The construction was also mismanaged by the government overseers, the report says. In order to speed construction, the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations created a standalone agency to act as contractor, outside of the normal review process. This agency failed to enforce contracts or to maintain quality control, the report says. Think Cheney....
The problems on such a high-profile project reinforce doubts about America’s reconstruction capacity, recently expressed by Iraq’s minister of planning, Ali Ghalib Baban. “America spent a lot of money for rehabilitation of hospitals and built small medical centers,” he said, “but the Ministry of Health found many technical faults in the design of the buildings. Those problems impede us from using the facilities.” Think Katrina....
When budgeted in 2005, the embassy was supposed to cost $592 million, but costs rose as the agency’s needs changed. Think fraud....
The errors listed in the report are large and small. The inspector general called for the bureau to seek $4.6 million in restitution from First Kuwaiti to repair safe areas for staff members, which were not built to specification; $14 million to install seismic bracing against earthquakes; $11 million to compensate for an inefficient power plant; $4.6 million to replace fire protection systems; $1.5 million to repair faulty plumbing in 200 locations where sewage gas could escape, ad infinitum....
Think Justice...think Obama :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/wo...html?ref=world
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