Insurgency Forces Iraq Reconstruction Cutback

Insurgency forces Iraq reconstruction cutback

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story...&IssueID=28318

2/1/2006

DUBAI: Ambitious US goals to fix Iraq's infrastructure will never be reached, mainly because insurgents have chased away contractors and forced the diversion of repair funds into security, according to a US government audit released last week.

The rise of Iraq's virulent insurgency in 2003 and 2004 was never envisioned by US occupation officials, who budgeted about nine per cent of US reconstruction aid for project security, according to an audit of the Iraqi Relief and Reconstruction Programme.

As a wave of kidnapping and sabotage rocked the reconstruction programme, US administrators were forced to bolster protection for job sites and workers. Those measures absorbed as much as 22 per cent of project costs, according to the audit from the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction found.

US occupation officials coped with the gathering insurgency by diverting $5.6 million of the $18.4 billion US aid package into Iraq's security and public safety sectors, while slashing projects aimed at restoring the country's water and electricity infrastructure, the report said.

US funds earmarked for Iraq's military and law enforcement jumped 55pc, funding training and weapons for Iraqi police and troops, prison construction and additional border guards.

State Department officials told auditors that US occupation authority planners assumed incorrectly that rebuilding projects could proceed without interference from Iraqi rebels.

Planners "envisioned a much more permissive security environment than that experienced in 2004 and 2005. The Iraq insurgency has directly affected the cost of the reconstruction projects, increased the cost of materials and created project delays," the audit says.

Hurriedly made plans and spending estimates had to be changed once Americans learned the true state of Iraq's crumbling infrastructure.

The spending diversions forced the cancellation of 60pc of the 136 planned water and sanitation projects - including sewage, irrigation and dams.

Just 49 water projects are expected to be completed, the audit says.

Of the 425 planned electric projects, only 300 will be finished, meaning ambitious US promises to restore Iraqi power are no longer accurate.