Tuesday, October 27, 2009
At a price of $310 million, “Karzai’s winter coat” is no ordinary cover of protection. The nickname applies to the Tarakhil Power Plant built by the U.S. in Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul that was intended to help keep the embattled leader in power through this year, and demonstrate to American taxpayers that President George W. Bush’s strategy was yielding results. With 94% of the Afghan population without electricity, the building of new power plants, like the one in Kabul, is part of the U.S. effort to lead the developing country out of darkness and into modernity.
However, critics say the expensive Kabul plant demonstrates the amount of money being wasted in Afghanistan. Although the contractors who built it (the Louis Berger Group of New Jersey and Black & Veatch of Kansas) promised cost overruns would only reach $15 million, the total was more like $70 million. In addition, the plant runs entirely on diesel fuel that must be shipped into the country at great expense ($70 million annually). Maintenance will cost another $60 million each year.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Cost of Afghanistan Project Soars, Benefits Exaggerated (by Marisa Taylor, McClatchy Newspapers)
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