Three years after a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein, only one major U.S. building project in Iraq is on schedule and within budget: the massive new American embassy compound.The $592 million facility is being built inside the heavily fortified Green Zone by 900 non-Iraqi foreign workers who are housed nearby and under the supervision of a Kuwaiti contractor, according to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee report. Construction materials have been stockpiled to avoid the dangers and delays on Iraq's roads.
"We are confident the embassy will be completed according to schedule (by June 2007) and on budget," said Justin Higgins, a State Department spokesman.
Well, there were some delays.
Two former employees of First Kuwaiti Trading and Contracting, the company that's building the new $592 million U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, testified to a House of Representatives panel Thursday that they'd observed abuses of construction workers.
But maybe that June date was hasty.
The United States' largest and costliest embassy, a heavily fortified compound in Baghdad with its own power plant and lighted softball field, is on track to be completed next month, on time and within budget.[...]
[Charles Williams, director of the State Department's overseas building operations] said he expects the State Department to perform final inspections by Sept. 24 or 25. Diplomats could move in after that, he said.
[...]
The 65-acre compound will be largely a world unto itself, insulated as much as possible from problems that plague the rest of Baghdad.
[...]
The embassy will have a separate set of 9-foot-high concrete walls to protect it against car or truck bombs. Many of the buildings also will have specially made bulletproof doors and windows, Williams said.
Baghdad experiences frequent utility outages, but the compound will have its own power, water and sewage plants.
[...]
Building the facility in the middle of an insurgency was costly, but Williams said it will not exceed the $592 million budgeted. By having workers live inside the Green Zone, the U.S. government avoided a lot of the security costs that have hampered other construction projects throughout Iraq.
The builders, First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting, headquartered in Kuwait, brought in about 2,500 mostly non-Iraqi workers who lived in trailers in the Green Zone.
[...]
It was easier than trying to bring locals into the work site, he said. "The Iraqis were difficult to vet," Williams said.
I have nothing to say. You can make your own comments.
....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.
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