We keep hearing more and more about how much the reconstruction and rebuilding of Iraq is going to cost (on top of the billions already spent so far for the invasion and occupation). Wouldn’t it be nice if we could cut those costs a bit? Oh, but to do that, we’d have to be fiscally responsible, which wouldn’t allow us to pass out fat government contracts to US companies…
One of my cousins works in a prominent engineering company in Baghdad- we’ll call the company H. This company is well-known for designing and building bridges all over Iraq. My cousin, a structural engineer, is a bridge freak. He spends hours talking about pillars and trusses and steel structures to anyone who’ll listen.
As May was drawing to a close, his manager told him that someone from the CPA wanted the company to estimate the building costs of replacing the New Diyala Bridge on the South East end of Baghdad. He got his team together, they went out and assessed the damage, decided it wasn’t too extensive, but it would be costly. They did the necessary tests and analyses (mumblings about soil composition and water depth, expansion joints and girders) and came up with a number they tentatively put forward- \$300,000. This included new plans and designs, raw materials (quite cheap in Iraq), labor, contractors, travel expenses, etc.
Let’s pretend my cousin is a dolt. Let’s pretend he hasn’t been working with bridges for over 17 years. Let’s pretend he didn’t work on replacing at least 20 of the 133 bridges damaged during the first Gulf War. Let’s pretend he’s wrong and the cost of rebuilding this bridge is four times the number they estimated- let’s pretend it will actually cost \$1,200,000. Let’s just use our imagination.
A week later, the New Diyala Bridge contract was given to an American company. This particular company estimated the cost of rebuilding the bridge would be around- brace yourselves- \$50,000,000 !!
Given all the mid-80’s ruckus about thousand dollar hammers, screws, and toilet seats, I probably shouldn’t be surprised at things like this, should I?
(via Atrios)
I am interested in finding out how much money the U.S. is going to be spending on building materials for the reconstruction of Iraq, and the comparison to the rest of the nations that will be assisting with the process. Where do you think i would be able to find such information?