Insurgents targeting oil lines, electricity plants and other infrastructure projects vital to Iraq's reconstruction have delayed US-led rebuilding efforts and raised the cost of doing business in this war-ravaged country, a top US official said.
Bill Taylor, director of the US-led Iraq Reconstruction Management Office, said Saturday ceaseless attacks on contractors and facilities have also increasing security demands, with up to 16 percent of all project costs now being spent on hiring armed guards, improving site protection and providing equipment like hardened vehicles and telecommunications systems.
He could not give an overall figure for the extra amount being spent.
Taylor told reporters that the raging insurgency was scaring away sorely needed foreign investors, even oil companies accustomed to dealing in dangerous locations were staying away.
"Two years ago I would have liked to have been further, but I would have liked there to have been fewer attacks on people trying to do the reconstruction," Taylor said.
Disturbing numbers
Insurgents bent on derailing Iraq's reconstruction are averaging 70 attacks a day, mainly against US and Iraqi forces, the military has said. Some 295 contractors, including security personnel, have been killed until April 30, with most being Americans working on US projects, according to Department of Labor Figures. Others have also been kidnapped.
Since invading Iraq in 2003, the US has earmarked US$21 billion in resources for the country's reconstruction. So far US$7.5 billion of this has been paid to contractors to perform works. Rebuilding, training and equipping Iraq's own security forces will eat up US$5 billion alone.
"We are paying more for security than we should, but if the security situation were better we could pay less," he said. "The fact is that security is not good, but nonetheless if we want to move forward in a difficult security environment it costs a little bit more."
Taylor said despite the insurgency, the US and new Iraqi government were "rapidly" proceeding with reconstruction projects -- including the construction of a water treatment facility in eastern Baghdad's impoverished Sadr City -- electrical plants, schools and clinics across the country.
"It was slow from July/August, but now it [the reconstruction] is moving very rapidly," he said. "Electricity, water, oil production: there are a range of things we are focussed on."
Taylor said US$200 million has gone toward Fallujah since the November US military operation to drive terrorists out of the volatile city located just west of Baghdad. Funds there have gone toward a water project, while 19,000 of 33,000 compensation claims have also been paid for damage caused to people's properties because of the operation.
Frequent complaints
Earlier this month, a UN-Iraqi survey showed that 85 percent of Iraqis complain of frequent power outages, only 54 percent have access to clean water and almost a quarter of Iraq's children suffer from chronic malnutrition.
Taylor said with Iraq's blistering summer just around the corner, electricity demands will increase and continue to outstrip supply. He said Iraq needs to attract foreign investors to help rebuild the electricity sector, but that power companies are loathe to do business in Iraq because power costs are so low.
Before the US-led invasion, Baghdad residents enjoyed about 20 hours of electricity a day. Today, they get about 10, usually broken into two-hour chunks. There are also frequent fuel and drinking water shortages. And only 37 percent of the population has a working sewage system.
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS