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Transcript: Infrastructure Restoration Update
July 1, 2003
MS. PETERSON: I am Dana Peterson, the Deputy Reconstruction Advisor for Iraq and the Asia and Near East Bureau here at USAID, and I'd like to welcome you all this morning to our public sector consultation on infrastructure restoration efforts in Iraq.
This is a session to highlight efforts to support infrastructure and the rehabilitation of infrastructure in Iraq over the past eight weeks. Colleagues are here today who have spent many months in Iraq and the region and can speak to very specific efforts and challenges in this critical sector.
Before detailing this sector, I would like to briefly describe our overall reconstruction portfolio to provide a context. We presume that many of you have already had an opportunity to visit USAID's web site, and that provides information on our overall reconstruction portfolio.
As you know, USAID is undertaking vital work to restore economically critical infrastructure, which we'll be addressing in this session, which includes the power sector, major transportation routes, water and sanitation systems, important public buildings such as schools and health facilities. We are also addressing the delivery of essential services, particularly in the health and education areas. We are working closely with United Nations organizations such as UNICEF and the World Health Organization in the delivery of such services. We are helping to improve the efficiency and accountability of government focused at the local level, and we are also seeking to expand economic opportunities throughout Iraq. Those are our four primary objectives here at USAID.
It's important to highlight that USAID has been undertaking reconstruction efforts since around mid-April. The President declared the cessation of major combat just a little over eight weeks ago. In terms of setting a context for our implementation efforts, work has been and will continue to be undertaken in close coordination with coalition military forces. Security remains a concern and challenge for implementation. It is a highly fluid situation in country, and our implementers have had to demonstrate considerable flexibility and adaptability. Fundamental to our efforts is that we are supporting Iraqi-led initiatives and capacities and ensuring Iraqi ownership in all of our program interventions.
In terms of USAID structure in the field, USAID is operating like it does in dozens of other countries around the world. We have a mission director, Lou Luck (ph). He currently has approximately 30 staff focused on reconstruction in the region and an additional around 20, 25 staff working on humanitarian relief efforts through our Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, Office of Food for Peace, and Office of Transition Initiatives.
USAID is part of the overall Office of Coalition Provisional Authority, headed by Ambassador Paul Bremmer, and USAID comprises roughly one third of the overall reconstruction effort for the U.S. Government.
Before turning this consultation over to my colleagues, I would like to highlight that this session is focused solely on implementation efforts to date on infrastructure restoration in Iraq. We are not addressing Iraq reconstruction procurements in this session. In addition, this is not a session to speak to broader administration policy.
For press questions, if you could please direct your inquiries at the end of the session, that would be helpful. We will have people here to speak on press questions.
I would like to now introduce my colleagues who are here with me today. Mr. Jim Guy is based here in Washington, D.C., and is working on our infrastructure reconstruction efforts. Importantly, he is backstopping Mr. Tom Wheelock, who is our Senior Infrastructure Program Manager in Iraq. He has been there for months and extremely well informed, so he will be providing the brief on this. Tom.
MR. WHEELOCK: Good morning. Thank you, Dana. It's great to be back in the United States, believe me. I've been over in Iraq for the past couple of months. I've been over in that region since mid-March, when I went over with the complement of General Garner's ORHA staff on March 17th.
What I'd like to do today is provide an overview on the infrastructure issue in Iraq. I think it's a good news story, and I think it's going to be a better news story as we move forward in the coming weeks. So, what I'd like to do is sketch out for you where we've been, what we found, where we are now, and where we think we're going in the coming months.
First, what did we find? I guess you can characterize it in three categories or three areas. First, the infrastructures suffered from years of neglect, both from sanctions, from Saddam's investment policy, which aggrandized himself and his colleagues at the expense of the people, but then that's counterbalanced by the high quality of the Iraqi management staff, the personnel resources that are in the country. Years of neglect, the combination of the sanctions, the equipment that they had. In some cases, for instance, the power sector, you've got power plants that were built 25, 30 years ago that are suffering from extreme fatigue, and you've got an infrastructure system that was on the verge of breakdown and acted accordingly when the conflict occurred.
Saddam Hussein, you see the stark contrast as you go up from--drive from Basra in the south. Here these people are living on top of this huge reservoir of oil. Their neighbors to the south, the Kuwaitis, are very well off. These people in Basra are living in extreme poverty, no potable water, little sanitation to speak of, living a mile above this vast pool of oil and all the profits are going to Saddam Hussein and his colleagues' pockets. The palaces in Baghdad are unbelievable, and they're numerous. Again, his diversion of the wealth of the country into this regime and its aggrandizement is just very stark.
All this is counterbalanced by the human resources that we found. We weren't quite sure as we went in. Was there going to be an Iraqi staff of management? Were there going to be organizations to work with us in rebuilding the infrastructure? And the good news is that, in fact, they were. Within a few days of the end of the conflict management started reporting back to work. The word got out. They brought in their colleagues, and they went to work to rebuild and reconstitute their infrastructure.
Just to give you some examples, down in the south, it was the Iraqi management in the power sector who got the workers back together, and they took an electricity system that was at zero--I mean, there was no power there, and there was no--the refineries weren't working, so you had a chicken-and-the-egg problem of how do you get power flowing in order to get the refinery up and running, how do you get fuel to the power plants in order to keep them running. And through a series of their efforts supported by the military and by Bechtel, our infrastructure contractor primarily in providing spare parts, the Iraqi management got their grid up in the south, and it's been effectively running ever since.
The same up in Baghdad. The military came into Baghdad in mid-April, provided leadership, provided communications, but basically it was the Iraqi management of the Electricity Commission and all their workers that, again, took a system that maybe had 10 megawatts of power that was coming in from the north and that was it. So, they effectively went from zero up to over 3,000 megawatts in the past week. Again, it's a matter of ingenuity, very competent people, and extreme dedication that they exhibited to get their network and their grid up and running.
So, that's what we found there. Where are we right now? And I'll just go through the infrastructure areas and give you my view of what the conditions are.
In the power sector, as I mentioned, we've gone from a zero state to over 3,000 megawatts of power. Now, that constitutes about 70 percent of what they were peak last summer. The U.N. feels that their peak demand last summer was around 4,400 megawatts. They've gotten up to 3,600 megawatts and then they had some setbacks. We feel confident that by the end of the summer they can be back up to their level of 4,200 or 4,400 megawatts. Again, it's with help that we're providing with spare parts and in some cases rehabilitation units to get up to that area, to those numbers. And then there'll be a longer-term plan to help build the number of megawatts as we go forward.
Now, just again to put it in the context of what was the state of their infrastructure, 4,400 megawatts is out of an installed capacity of about 9,600. So, they're running at less than 50 percent of what the nameplate capacity on their generators would indicate. A lot of it's old plant. A lot of it's problems with some of the generators. A lot of the problem is transmission lines that have been damaged or, in many cases, looted. That's a constraint on adding capacity.
In the water and sanitation sector basically the problem is you've got a mess in the center, a mess in the sense of sanitation, raw sewage being dumped into the rivers because the plants have been looted, sanitation treatment plants have been looted, and that's a big major effort to reconstitute those plants over the next several months in Baghdad and in the central heartland region. All that, the sanitation problem, of course, affects the people downstream, so our focus will be to clean up the middle on the sanitation side and then down south we will be working in the treatment plants in Basra to get them, you know, where they're actually instead of just pumping water into the pipes untreated, at least get the primary treatment for that water with the rehabilitation that we would undertake.
Telecommunications. This is the one infrastructure area that was targeted during the war. Most of you probably know that the military did not target power, did not target water systems during the conflict. However, telecommunications was targeted because they were dual use, civilian and military assets. There are two projects here. One is to restore the backbone which runs--which is primarily fiber-optic cable running from north of Mosul all the way down through Baghdad, down toward Basra, and that will be about a three-month project, and that will get underway shortly. And then, secondly, restoring some of the public switches in Baghdad which were targeted during the war, and that will significantly increase the capacity within Baghdad for people to call. So, once we get the Baghdad network partially up and running and then we've got the backbone, then people will be able to call within Baghdad and then out to the other cities. And we're also adding an international gateway switch so that international communications would be reestablished.
Bridges--roads and bridges. There are about 30--36 bridges that were damaged during the conflict. Working with the Ministry of Construction and Public Works, we've identified those, and we're working closely with that Ministry. The Ministry has determined which ones that they have the capacity to repair and which ones they would like our contractors to repair. Two of the key bridges were on the road between Jordan and Baghdad where a lot of humanitarian assistance comes through, and we've already built a bypass there around that bridge which was in danger of collapse, and so the trucks can come in now through--around that bridge and into Baghdad without going over that bridge that was in danger of collapse.
We're also responsible for the seaport of Umm Qasr. That was one of the early priorities that we undertook as we entered into southern Iraq. This seaport handles 60 percent of the imported bulk food from the Food For Peace Program and the World Food Program, about 300,000 metric tons a month would come into that port. USAID with Bechtel has implemented a dredging program so that deep draft ships can come in. The port, which was deserted when we first entered there April 1st, is now a lively port. We've got dredging activities going. We have salvage operations going on to remove the wrecks that are blocking some parts of the channel. We've got ferry service from Abu Dhabi. We've got bulk cargo being unloaded, bag cargo being unloaded, containers being unloaded, so it's becoming an active port again, and it's great to see this activity is taking place in the last six months. USAID has a contract with a seaport operator, Stevedore Services of America, and they took over operation of the port the 23rd, and they're there now managing the port and working closely with the Iraqi Port Authority, and will make a transition to Iraqi management over the coming months.
Similarly at the airports. USAID and the Coalition Provisional Authorities focused on two: the one at Basra, more importantly, the one at Baghdad. The Coalition Provision Authority wants--is looking to open Baghdad for commercial traffic this summer, hopefully in July, and we're assisting in that effort with the--in repairing some of the damage which was minimal, but primarily getting communications set up and getting avionics set up and also getting our airport operator, which is Skylink USA, getting them set up to operate that airport for commercial operations. Basra will open around the same time as Baghdad. The British military right now control that airfield, and there's--little damage was done during the conflict to that, so it's pretty well set to reopen for commercial service.
USAID and the Coalition Provisional Authority also have a substantial building program that starts this week. It will be about a $53 million program to rehabilitate schools, clinics, and municipal office buildings throughout the country, focused primarily on Baghdad, Basra, and some of the outer-lying cities. Bechtel is getting this underway, and it's another example of using Iraqi companies, Iraqi engineers to do the work under subcontract to Bechtel. And this is a shot in the arm for the economy with getting money into the hands of Iraqi companies and also gets schools and clinics back up and running. Schools, of course, for the opening in the fall--for the fall opening, but more importantly, clinics which have suffered years of neglect are the primary source of care for the population, and with the clinics being inoperable right now, you've got a flood of people coming in hospitals overburdening the hospitals, so we've been asked to focus on clinics so that the people go to move convenient locations and feel more comfortable there to get their primary health care.
So, that's the broad overview of the infrastructure sectors. USAID is working in all these infrastructure sectors except the oil sector, and I'd be pleased to answer any questions in a few minutes on any individual questions you may have.
Where are we going in the future? Bechtel, our infrastructure contractor, is putting together an implementation plan. They've done an assessment of the various infrastructure sectors, and we're prioritizing various projects to work within the amount of money of the contract, which is $680 million. Number one priority we know is telecom. Number two priority is power, and so this plan will be reviewed by the Coalition Provisional Authority, and we hope to have direction by this mid to end of July and then substantial work will get underway with--through Bechtel and their subcontractors. And that program will last until the end of 2004.
Dana, I don't know. Did I hit everything?
MS. PETERSON: Yes.
MR. WHEELOCK: Well, questions.
MS. PETERSON: Thank you very much, Tom. That was extremely informative.
Just to highlight a few things, we are broadcasting live on the web, also, and so for any questions from the audience if you could please come and speak into the microphone so that those who cannot be physically present here will be able to still follow the discussion and hear what transpires. So, please approach the microphone.
I did want to just clarify one thing on the telecommunications sector as well. Tom has highlighted some immediate interventions that are being done in this sector. Really, they're emergency communications efforts. The broader telecommunications infrastructure and work is still being discussed inter-agency, et cetera, and so what Tom can speak to is the immediate emergency repairs that are taking place. The broader sector issues is not something that we're in a position to speak to at this point.
So, are there any questions please?
MR. GOODRICH: Good morning. My name is Bill Goodrich from the Arent Fox law firm. Thank you for a very informative briefing. Just a general question about installed work. Once you do get things up and running, once you get a repair done, how are you doing on maintaining security of the installed work? Are you finding looting an ongoing problem? How is that being managed? How is it going?
MR. WHEELOCK: Looting has probably doubled the cost of reconstruction, that's my back of the--I mean, that's just my gut feeling, and it's hard to describe in words the extent of the looting and, in some cases, the organized criminal part of it. Perhaps some is sabotage, but I think most of it--my feeling, most of the people over there feel that, particularly in the south, most of it is economic-oriented. However, there have been instances both in the power sector and the oil sector where people knew what they were doing, and it was clear that it wasn't--that it was sabotage.
You go into a sanitation treatment plant in Baghdad, and it's gone. I mean, it is gone. Sixty-four motor pumps for the aerators that turn the-whatever it is--some of you may know--aerators. You know, these are big, big pumps, motors, gone. No, they had to have a crane to do that. They had to have trucks to haul them away. They had backhoes to take away the dirt so they could chop the copper cables and pull them out of the ground. They banged holes into the walls of the--where the power units were so they could take the transformers. They just stripped the wires out. I mean, this was systematic pillaging of infrastructure.
So, just again, it's hard--I can describe it, but it's a hard to get a sense of the magnitude of it unless you really--unless you can see it firsthand. So, security's a problem; there's no doubt about it. And what we're--Bechtel is responsible for site security at the--on-site, but that begs the question of what happens, you know, when they go away. And what we've asked isor what we're contemplating is that the Ministry--that the various Ministries involved, for instance if it's a substation, the Electricity Commission, the Electricity Commission's allowed to stand up a security force, an armed security force, and the Ministries are in the process of doing that. So, what--we're in partnership with the Ministry or in this case the Electricity Commission, we'll be asking them to provide the security and assurances on security so that we're not throwing good money after bad by doing the repair and then seeing it walk out the door the following week. But it's an issue that we're all very sensitive to in trying to make sure that our program can go ahead and not be gutted later. Sir.
MR. NEILSON: My name is Keith Neilson. I'm speaking for the Society for Democracy including random selection. I've got a political point to make. I'm not quite sure whether it's appropriate here, but perhaps you can decide that once I've made it.
Thomas Jefferson was very good at identifying self-evident truths. I'm not sure whether he's a Freemason or not. Some people say he was. I'm not quite sure. But I would propose that it is a self-evident truth that random selection is the best barrier against secret fractionalism and also the most impartial barrier against secret fractionalism, and that would have a certain bearing on U.S. policy in regard to Iraq, on U.S. policy in regard to the old Ba'ath party, and also on U.S. policy in regard to the fact that the old, in fact, I suppose still-existing Iraqi penal code has it that it is the death penalty to be a member of or advocate membership of a Masonic organization. Would you like to comment on that?
MR. WHEELOCK: I'm afraid that's beyond my area of expertise.
MR. NEILSON: I think it's one of the bases for the policy towards Iraq.
MR. WHEELOCK: I'm sorry, I can't give comment on that. Sir.
MR. REGAN: All right, my name is Jim Regan with International Business-Government Counselors. Thank you, Tom, for the briefing. Very informative.
On the water sector, in addition to the wastewater treatment plants, could you talk a little bit about the municipal water facilities generally in Baghdad and Basra and elsewhere and what types of progress Bechtel is making in that area in particular. And if you could also, based on your long tenure there, give us a little bit of the sense of the atmospherics in terms of whether you see more people coming in from other countries, European businesses, Middle East businesses. Is business getting back to normal, even with the current tough restrictions on U.S. nationals visiting the country?
MR. WHEELOCK: On the water treatment plants, the filtration systems are basically pass-through. I mean, there's really no filtration to speak of. Whatever--they do chlorinate, but there's no scientific I guess method that the Iraqi engineers have been doing for chlorination, so they--and they haven't had the measurement capabilities to determine what, you know, what effect their chlorination is having. So, this is part of the program that we want to do, especially down in the Basra area, where I think there's nine treatment plants. We need to rehabilitate the pump stations there, and they're often--and the pump stations are co-located with the treatment plants--and also at least get primary treatment capability and filtration repair at those treatment plants.
In Baghdad, you know, water's being pumped. Again, it's a matter of what's the treatment capability right now after the conflict, but there is an important project where we think we can make--have an impact in East Baghdad, which is populated mainly by Shiias, used to be called Saddam City, there's a water project, Saba Nissan (ph) I think it's called, and we think within a three- to four-month period we can increase the water, the water there, by 50 percent. Overall Baghdad, that would be a 15 percent increase, but in that important part of the city, it's a 50 percent increase. So, we'll be undertaking that as part of the Bechtel program.
To your second question about business activity, a lot of shops, small shops, are open. You see a lot of small commerce. In terms of international investors, I think they're waiting for the, you know, the security situation to calm down, but there have been, of course, companies interested in working with Bechtel who've come in. But in terms of new investment, I just haven't seen it right now. But you have seen a lot of the Iraqi private sector companies start to do--to venture out, to form contacts with international companies who are interested in having a partner in Iraq. That activity is taking place.
Speaking of Bechtel and subcontracting, let me say this. I think the--the idea that this was going to be a gold mine for foreign companies to find work in Iraq is--it's not going to happen, I don't think. It's going to be benefitting Iraqi companies, Iraqi engineers, Iraqi workers, and they're very talented engineers, good work ethic. Bechtel's had good experience so far in the initial subcontracts they've done. They held a conference for subcontractors in Baghdad on June 18th, and they had well over a thousand people attend. It was an educational type of thing because Bechtel is working under government contract to various qualifications that a subcontractor has to meet, so part of that is educational to inform the Iraqi companies what exactly had to be done.
So, Bechtel has an aggressive program now. They have offices set up in central Baghdad. Companies can come in and submit their qualifications. Bechtel's advertising opportunities in the media, and just off the top of my head I know there have been two bridge--two subcontracts involved for the bridge work, three subcontracts involved with the airport of Baghdad, you know, that have been let already, so--plus the $50 million building program for schools and clinics will be largely through Iraqi companies. Yes, sir.
MR. HARDESTY: Thank you for your comments, Tom. My name is John Hardesty with Amron International. You just touched on something which has been a problem from day one, and that is getting U.S. companies into Iraq. You know, European companies have people all over the country operating, working, trying to get work there. I know that the State Department now has a consulate officer in Iraq who's trying to get U.S. companies there, and maybe to dovetail with opening of the airport later this month. Is USAID working, helping to support that effort or get--help getting U.S. companies because this is very frustrating for people who are over in the region who can't get in country?
MR. WHEELOCK: Dana may be able to speak to that better. I'm always happy to take calls from companies interested in what's going on there and give my two cents' worth, but I think Dana--in terms of formal program, maybe she can speak to something, something more specific.
MS. PETERSON: I was just going to say the Department of State and Commerce are the U.S. Government entities that are most involved in that particular issue, so...
I also just wanted to follow up on the question about the looting and how we are protecting areas in which we are helping to rehabilitate, et cetera. And I think it's clear that Iraqi ownership in the reconstruction process is the best way in which to address some of the looting, sabotage, et cetera, and Tom can even speak more to this, but anecdotal evidence. For instance, in the educational sector with schools is that those communities that are the most engaged in the rehabilitation of their school are then the most engaged in the protection of that facility once it is restored, and those facilities tend to be the least targeted for looting, et cetera, when the communities really get around those given facilities. So, I just wanted to supplement what Tom had mentioned on that front.
And then, in addition, it is important to highlight that with our infrastructure restoration efforts, we really see this as also an invaluable opportunity to provide economic opportunities to Iraqis to help restore other parts of that society and in different sectors beyond just the infrastructure. It reaches out into the economic sphere very broadly. But it is important to note that Bechtel is looking at a range of partners with given capabilities and unique expertise, et cetera, in meeting their objectives, and there are subs that are from the region beyond just Iraq as well. Is that correct, Tom? So, I just wanted to caveat that if you wanted to add any more information on that, too.
Any further--any questions, additional questions, please?
MR. NAROTI: My name is Maseo Naroti from the Embassy of Italy. Thank you for your comment. I have just a brief question about the Umm Qasr port. We have heard that there are plans to enlarge the capacity of the port. I would like to have your comments if this is just an idea/approach or a future task.
MR. WHEELOCK: The port of Umm Qasr is a huge facility. They have something like 22 berths there of which now maybe four or five may be operational at any one time. So, there's a significant capacity there, and there are no plans that I know of to enlarge the port of Umm Qasr. There's plenty of work to go around just in rehabilitating the existing port and getting it, you know, to handle more cargo.
Now, the ports further up the channel, for instance, Kor Az Zubayr, which is about ten miles further up the channel, is an important point for import and export of petroleum products, and there are hazards going up that channel with wrecks, but the Ministry of Oil is actively pursuing and we've provided the survey information on the channel so that barges of petroleum products can go up there and off-load and take on products. So, that is underway. So, I hope that answers your question.
Back to--let me just elaborate on the subcontracting part. I would guesstimate that the--of the $680 million, perhaps 50 percent will end up in Iraqi companies and workers. The other part, of course, for things that they can't provide, like the large dredging capability, like generator parts or generators or water filtration systems, you know,that--that content would have to come in from--be imported in and whatever expertise associated with power plants would also be subcontracted out. But again, we think--we're just guessing about 50 percent will end up inside Iraq. Yes, sir.
MR. LONG: Good morning. Charles Long, Business Intelligence Services. How are you doing?
MR. WHEELOCK: Good.
MR. LONG: I had a couple of questions. I came in just a little late leaving the State Department, but I had a couple of questions in particular on the communications, the interim communications aspects, what that means, and what you're looking at to support it and also the interim school, broadband approach to the educational side. What are you looking at in that?
MR. WHEELOCK: On the telecommunications side?
Well, on the telecommunications side, it's strictly the public switch network. It's nothing to do with the cell phone capability. We're restoring five switches inside Baghdad which will--five out of the ten that were destroyed during the war, primarily in the central part of Baghdad, and then the second program is to repair the backbone that was cut during the war all the way from Mosul down to Basra, and that's--both of these projects will probably take three or four months to complete.
On the question of education, I think maybe Dana can speak to that.
MS. PETERSON: I apologize. Would you mind clarifying it? I'm sorry, if you could do it into the microphone, too, just--I apologize.
MR. LONG: What I'm trying to get a handle on is meeting the target date for September on the education, whether the schools will be completely rebuilt. That's one. And, two, what is the interim approach to the education across the country, as it were? That's what I'm trying to get at.
MS. PETERSON: Okay, good. Maybe Tom can speak on the actual facilities rehabilitation effort that Bechtel is helping to support with Iraqi subs, but the focus of our education work is, one, to ensure that schools are open by the start of the new school year; two, that all the students that should be in the classroom are in the classroom; and, three, that they're receiving quality instruction. So, there are a range of interventions that we are undertaking to meet that objective. We have a private sector partner, Creative Associates, and then two grants with United Nations organizations, UNICEF and UNESCO, that are helping to deliver student kits, what are called "Schools in a Box" to help ensure that is sufficient equipment and supplies in the classroom.
We are working on accelerated learning programs, trying to ensure that those children who have been out of school for a number of years are reentering school at their appropriate age cohort. I'm particularly focusing on girls in that effort, undertaking some teacher training, addressing sort of the pedagogy in the classroom. And so we are anticipating all schools will be open.
We are actually undertaking also sort of emergency measures in administering end-of-the-year exams. I should say we're supporting the Ministry of Education's effort in administering end-of-the-school-year exams so that students can enter into their appropriate class level this starting fall. Does that help answer your questions? Okay.
MR. PEDERADIAS: Good morning, Tom and Dana. My name is Genaro Pederadis (ph). I'm with the rather large architectural engineering firm S & B Infrastructure out of Houston, Texas. And my question is very basic, just to confirm what I've read and heard in the media that all subcontracting jobs are directly through Bechtel or is that not--what I understood that you could--you would address or you would invite someone to meet with you or something like that. How does that link up together?
MS. PETERSON: Tom can, I guess, clarify his statements, but in terms of sub relationships, et cetera, firms will be engaging directly with USAID's prime in that effort. USAID's legal relationship is with the prime. Our primes are ultimately held accountable for meeting the objectives and the provisions in the contract. It is understood that the primes will reach out to appropriate subs that have demonstrated technical capability, expertise, institutions or firms that can help address the various objectives in the contract in the most cost-effective manner. But because our primes are ultimately held accountable legally for meeting those objectives, they then need to look at the appropriate partnerships in order to meet their contract.
Tom, did you want to add?
MR. WHEELOCK: That's correct. I was just--if people call me to ask what do I think about Iraq or their particular company, I mean if they're interested in subcontracting, I say please, go visit, talk to Bechtel. But if they have any other questions, you know, I'm always glad to help out. Sir.
MR. BAROCAS: I would like to respond.
Good morning. My name is Rifad Barocas (ph). If you would access the Bechtel web site and look at the transcript of the meeting they had on the 21st of May, you will find out that as of the 21st of May, there were 4,000 companies that had applied for subcontracting opportunities with Bechtel. 2,800 were U.S., and then there were 122 Turkish firms. There were about 75 Spanish firms, and it went down, all the way down to 4,000.
At the present time that may be up to 6,000 firms. I don't know. I mean, that's something that Tom might probably address, but as he was saying at the time this was considered the gold mine, and there were thousands and thousands of companies from the United States and all over the world applying for subcontracting opportunities. But Bechtel had a very good presentation, and I think the transcript would be very helpful to you in terms of reviewing it before you even talk to anybody at AID or in Bechtel.
Now, can I come to my questions?
MR. WHEELOCK: Please.
MR. BAROCAS: Okay. As far as you know, is there a need for additional dredging equipment in Umm Qasr?
MR. WHEELOCK: Equipment or do we need additional--
MR. BAROCAS: Dredgers.
MR. WHEELOCK: --dredgers?
Well, there's a huge need for dredging that whole channel. The issue is money, and--
MR. BAROCAS: That is the constraint, not the equipment?
MR. WHEELOCK: That's correct.
MR. BAROCAS: Okay. The--
MR. WHEELOCK: And our intention right now is to--we're dredging the port, the entrance from the channel into the port and up, you know, that long--into the old port area, the berthing part of the old port into the new port area. Great Lakes Dredging is the subcontractor there.
MR. BAROCAS: Yes, I know. For those ladies and gentlemen that are interested in water supply and sanitation, one of the most knowledgeable individuals has just arrived in the United States yesterday. He name is Dr. Dennis Warner, and he has been with OFDA, and he is a very knowledgeable and experienced individual. Those that want to know about the status of specific water and sanitation could probably locate him.
The last question that I had was--the Bechtel presentation was very thorough and very good and very interesting, and I want to make a comment about that. They said any subcontractor that came to Iraq had to provide office space, living space, food, water, health, and security for all its contractor employees. Now, that is still correct and applicable, is it not?
MR. WHEELOCK: That's what we require of our prime contractor, so I'm sure they're going to pass the same along to subcontractors.
MR. BAROCAS: What about the other prime contractors outside Bechtel and their subcontractors?
MR. WHEELOCK: Correct me if I'm wrong, Dana, but they're also required to provide all their life support, security. MR. BAROCAS: Systems.
MR. WHEELOCK: Yes.
MR. BAROCAS: In according with--in full accordance with ADRAX (ph)?
MR. WHEELOCK: She said yes.
MR. BAROCAS: No, because there are some grantees that are sort of deviating from the regular regs, which is why I was asking. So, the regs are applicable to subcontract--to primes, subcontractors, and grantees.
MS. PETERSON: Okay. We can speak to the prime requirements. You have mentioned both contractors and grantees in your question, which there are obviously differences in the relationship--
MR. BAROCAS: Of course.
MS. PETERSON: --with USAID. So, on the contractors, yes. On the grantees, I guess if your question were targeted in a certain way towards that, I can try to respond to that as well.
MR. BAROCAS: That's okay.
MS. PETERSON: Okay.
MR. BAROCAS: A word to the wise. Thank you very much.
MS. PETERSON: Thank you. Please.
MR. MOHAMMED: Nahi Mohammed (ph) from Islamic Relief, and thank you for your time today.
My question was, how effective have the relief and development agencies around the world who have come to assist with this issue in Iraq to your efforts at restoration?
MS. PETERSON: In terms of various NGOs and other organizations, well, while this session is focused more on the infrastructure rehabilitation and there are others that can speak in much more depth to some of the humanitarian relief efforts, I think one can reasonably say that any humanitarian crisis has been diverted, and that is something that people highlight as a definite benefit of the efforts by a number of organizations.
There were few relief organizations that stayed throughout the conflict and have been highly effective and are undertaking important work in the health sectors and other interventions, water, sanitation. If you want additional information on some of the humanitarian relief efforts and who is undertaking what efforts, et cetera, there's a couple of sources that you can go to. One is on our web page, and in our public daily fact sheet we capture both reconstruction implementation efforts as well as relief, humanitarian relief and what's being undertaken in partnership with World Food Program and through our Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, our grants to organizations such as CARE and others.
In addition, there is a useful web page entitled www.agoodplacetostart.org that captures a lot of the assessments that are being undertaken by various NGOs and organizations. We have humanitarian information centers throughout Iraq that the U.N. is helping to set up that are coordinating the efforts on the relief and development reconstruction side. So, those web pages would hopefully provide other useful information.
Tom, did you want to provide any other thoughts?
MR. WHEELOCK: In certain of the reconstruction areas like water and sanitation, the NGOs are very active, international RCIC, UNICEF, OFAM from the U.K., and so USAID and Bechtel work closely with these NGOs to demarcate, okay, you took this facility, and this is the work that you'll do, and then we'll take it a bit further. We try to divide up, have a division of labor and work in partnership with the NGOs, particular in water and sanitation.
MR. WETHERALL: James Wetherall (ph), I'm with USAID. Actually I have two questions. The first one deals a little bit with what we were just talking about. What existing mechanisms are there for coordination so that there is not duplication of effort for working in the infrastructure area where there's water, sanitation or not? Is it just ad hoc or is there a mechanism of regularly meeting?
And the second question is dealing with the prioritization of projects that are actually undertaken. There's obviously far more work that needs to be done in Iraq than USAID has funding for, indeed, than the OCPA has funding for. So, how--what is--how--what is the system to prioritize which projects get USAID funding, which get funding from OCPA and others?
MR. WHEELOCK: Yeah. Good question. What was the first one? Oh, yes. For the coordination with the NGOs in Baghdad and Basra, there are regular meetings, usually at the UNICEF headquarters with the NGOs for that particular sector, and we meet with them and go through an agenda of planning for what needs to be done. That's undertaken on a regular basis.
On priorities, as I mentioned earlier, Bechtel's preparing an implementation plan of their recommendations for what--given their understandings of what the priorities are, and that program will be reviewed by a CPA starting in mid-July, we'll get the blessing, and then be able to undertake the work. Part of that review process, we've been working hand in hand with the various Ministries, Electricity Commission, Ministry of Public Works, Irrigation Ministry, Ministry of Transportation Coordination, so we've been working very closely with them. We understand what their needs are, and we're trying to put this whole program together under the CPA's priorities as they've been given to us, which I mentioned earlier: number one, telecom; number two, power; and then kind of going down from there. So, we'll have that program put together and, again, it will be blessed by a CPA.
Now, in the electricity sector and some of the other sectors where you have oil-for-food contracts, the Electricity Commission, you know, identified what contracts were still operative, which contracts had been provided letter of credits--letters of credit that had been financed, so they have a pretty good handle on those funds that they could count on to do various projects. So, basically you've got a whole list of projects that need to be done. You've got three sources of funding: USAID source, U.N. sources, and then finally Iraqi government sources, and you can rack and stack the projects and determine what the source of funding will be. And that process has been underway not only with the Electricity Commission, but also the other Ministries as well. So, that's the coordination process that will take place along with the prioritization for the larger infrastructure projects.
Other questions. Dana?
Thanks for the opportunity to speak with you. If you have any other questions, I'll be glad to chat with you afterwards.
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