Iraq Rebuilding 'Is Failing'

Taken from Al-Jazeera News Agency, APRIL 30, 2007
By Tom Ackerman

A US audit has found many of Iraq's reconstruction projects are falling apart and oil production is still below pre-war levels.However, Washington said it was Iraq's responsibility to maintain its infrastructure.The report describes widespread waste, decay and deterioration.



Inspectors said measures to keep rebuilt infrastructure operating were not carried out by the Iraqis. Problems were found complying with international standards and construction sites did not meet safety objectives.

The report also said that electricity supply in Baghdad was down to less than seven hours a day on average, and only 15 out of 142 planned health care centres had been completed.

At Baghdad airport, it said, 10 out of 17 new generators were no longer working because they had not been maintained properly.

Corruption
The sewer system at Erbil's modernised paediatric hospital leaks, medical waste clogged drains, and a new incinerator was not being used.

And after the renovation of Iraq's civil defence headquarters, there was evidence of water damage and wiring that posed a risk of electrical fires. In its official response to the findings, the Pentagon said once the projects were transferred to Iraqis the US gave up control and authority over them.

The report also criticised the Iraqi government's efforts to combat corruption, which costs at least $5bn a year.

It found that Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, had blocked 48 corruption investigations involving 102 people.