WORLD> Middle East
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WORLD> Middle East
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Iraq's rebuilding planned at nearly $120 billion
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-07-30 17:21 He said American taxpayers did not always get their money's worth. One success story was a $34 million project that built a system of ditches, berms, fences and other security to protect pipelines from attacks. "The success of the program is evident in the fact that there have been no successful attacks on northern oil lines this year," the report said, noting that contributed to the increased oil production. The Iraqis have refused to take over control of some of the facilities built for them, forcing the US to "unilaterally transfer" hundreds of projects without formal agreement and increasing the risk that the US investment will be wasted, Bowen said. Some of the projects were rejected because they were incomplete, some because they didn't meet Iraqi expectations and others because the Iraqis deemed them unnecessary, Bowen said, recommending a new US-Iraqi agreement for such transfers. Other details in the report said: The quarter's oil production averaged 2.43 million barrels a day, the highest reported since the reconstruction program began five years ago, but below prewar levels of 2.58 million. As of June 30, the United States had spent $1.86 billion on rebuilding the oil industry. ? Average daily electricity production for the quarter was 12 percent higher than the same time last year and the second highest quarterly average since the start of the war. Still, publicly available power, which is provided virtually without fees, only meets about 55 percent of increasing demand, forcing people to buy power buy power from private generators run by neighbors or small businessmen. |
