Two steps back for rebuilders
James Glanz
Insurgents stall work by Iraq contractors like GE and Siemens

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< < Back to Start of Article Insurgents stall work by Iraq contractors like GE and Siemens

The insurgency in Iraq has driven two major contractors, General Electric and Siemens, to suspend most of their operations there, raising new doubts about the American-led effort to rebuild the country while hostilities continue.
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Spokesmen for the contractors declined to discuss their operations in Iraq, but the shutdowns were confirmed by officials at the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity, the Coalition Provisional Authority and by companies working with GE and Siemens in Iraq.
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"Between the GE lockdown and the inability to get materials moved up the major supply routes, about everything is being affected in one way or another," said Jim Hicks, a senior adviser for electricity at the coalition authority.
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The suspensions and travel restrictions are delaying work on about two dozen power plants as occupying forces press to meet an expected surge in demand for electricity before summer. Hicks said plants that had been expected to produce power by late April or early May might not be operating until June 1.
.
"While it's being affected, it's not shutting down," he said of the work. "I think we're still in good shape as far as getting our equipment back up before the summer really hits us."
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Several government and company officials said reconstruction work had rebounded recently after the intense violence of the past few weeks, but experts said they were concerned the delays might affect ordinary Iraqis. "What worries me is that, are the insurgents, the terrorists, are they winning the battle this way?" asked Isam al-Khafaji, an Iraqi who is director of Iraq Revenue Watch, an initiative of the Open Society Institute, an organization backed by the billionaire George Soros. Electricity, he said, "is the most important sector for the Iraqis after security."
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"This will be affecting, really, people's everyday lives," Khafaji said.
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The Coalition Provisional Authority regards the rehabilitation of the country's water, sewage, transportation, oil and electrical infrastructure as a linchpin in the effort to create a functioning democracy and persuade ordinary Iraqis of America's good will.
.
A spokeswoman for the authority said discussions involving security issues with GE had led to an agreement that could result in a resumption of operations. She said that Siemens and the authority were "working out their differences" but that she had no information about whether the company would begin working again.
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GE booked $450 million in orders in 2003 in Iraq, mostly for subcontracts to the large prime contractors, said Gary Sheffer, a company spokesman.
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Neither GE nor other companies working in Iraq would say how many employees they had in the country, citing security concerns.
.
Sheffer added that GE intended to fulfill its contractual obligations in Iraq.
.
"We are working with our customers to mitigate the impacts of the security measures that have been implemented recently," he wrote by e-mail.
.
A Siemens spokeswoman, Paula Davis, also said her company was committed to the reconstruction.
.
Two companies with much larger contracts in Iraq, Bechtel and Halliburton, said they had curtailed travel by their employees but were not considering halting their work.
.
"While some travel has been temporarily limited to mission-critical tasks, we are in constant communication with the military, and these restricted movements and increased security measures will not impact getting supplies to soldiers," said Wendy Hall, a spokeswoman for Halliburton, which delivers drinking water, food and fuel used by the American occupation force.
.
Halliburton said in a statement Tuesday that three of the four bodies found near an attack on a fuel convoy in Iraq earlier this month were its employees. A captive Halliburton employee, Thomas Hamill, has been shown in a video distributed by his captors.
.
A major private security provider in Iraq with access to intelligence information said that Halliburton had "been slowed down in terms of the number of routes and convoys they can run" and that the company was having a difficult time hiring truck drivers to work in Iraq. He estimated that the number of company convoys was down by 35 percent.
.
Despite the delays, several government and private officials in Iraq remained optimistic about the long term. "Yes, you have to be careful, take prudent measures to reduce your risk," said Tom Wheelock, director of infrastructure programs for the Agency for International Development, which oversees about $3 billion in Iraq contracts. "And with that context, with those kinds of guidelines, you can have success."
.
David Nash, director of the Coalition Provisional Authority's program management office, which is the process of awarding $9 billion in rebuilding contracts, estimated that during the most intense days of the insurgency in early April, 25 percent of Iraqis hired for his office's projects actually arrived for work. Several major companies said they had been able to continue with nearly all of their projects. In some cases, the work continued within secure perimeters, where non-Iraqi workers remained outside Baghdad until their companies decided that travel was safe again. In other cases, projects have been left entirely to Iraqi subcontractors.
.
"We are still working in all the sectors in which we have active work orders," said Howard Menaker, a spokesman for Bechtel, which has nearly $3 billion in contracts in Iraq. "Over all, we think we will stay on schedule and complete the contracts."
.
But the lockdown by GE, in particular, has led to delays on power projects that involved its huge turbine power generators, in some cases forcing other companies to slow or stop work. The delays are slowing work on a $50 million project to refurbish a large power plant north of Baghdad, said Robert Spaulding, a vice president of operations for Fluor, a major contractor in Iraq. Roughly 70 Iraqis and a dozen non-Iraqi managers are taking apart three GE turbines, but GE has declined to send technical advisers and has been slow to ship new parts, Spaulding said. He added that he might be forced to seek technical help from other companies that have experience with the GE units.
.
"Tell me what's different about having an American construction superintendent at this site," Spaulding said, referring to his own employees there, "but GE won't send an American tech guy?"The New York Times Insurgents stall work by Iraq contractors like GE and Siemens

The insurgency in Iraq has driven two major contractors, General Electric and Siemens, to suspend most of their operations there, raising new doubts about the American-led effort to rebuild the country while hostilities continue.
.
Spokesmen for the contractors declined to discuss their operations in Iraq, but the shutdowns were confirmed by officials at the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity, the Coalition Provisional Authority and by companies working with GE and Siemens in Iraq.
.
"Between the GE lockdown and the inability to get materials moved up the major supply routes, about everything is being affected in one way or another," said Jim Hicks, a senior adviser for electricity at the coalition authority.
.
The suspensions and travel restrictions are delaying work on about two dozen power plants as occupying forces press to meet an expected surge in demand for electricity before summer. Hicks said plants that had been expected to produce power by late April or early May might not be operating until June 1.
.
"While it's being affected, it's not shutting down," he said of the work. "I think we're still in good shape as far as getting our equipment back up before the summer really hits us."
.
Several government and company officials said reconstruction work had rebounded recently after the intense violence of the past few weeks, but experts said they were concerned the delays might affect ordinary Iraqis. "What worries me is that, are the insurgents, the terrorists, are they winning the battle this way?" asked Isam al-Khafaji, an Iraqi who is director of Iraq Revenue Watch, an initiative of the Open Society Institute, an organization backed by the billionaire George Soros. Electricity, he said, "is the most important sector for the Iraqis after security."
.
"This will be affecting, really, people's everyday lives," Khafaji said.
.
The Coalition Provisional Authority regards the rehabilitation of the country's water, sewage, transportation, oil and electrical infrastructure as a linchpin in the effort to create a functioning democracy and persuade ordinary Iraqis of America's good will.
.
A spokeswoman for the authority said discussions involving security issues with GE had led to an agreement that could result in a resumption of operations. She said that Siemens and the authority were "working out their differences" but that she had no information about whether the company would begin working again.
.
GE booked $450 million in orders in 2003 in Iraq, mostly for subcontracts to the large prime contractors, said Gary Sheffer, a company spokesman.
.
Neither GE nor other companies working in Iraq would say how many employees they had in the country, citing security concerns.
.
Sheffer added that GE intended to fulfill its contractual obligations in Iraq.
.
"We are working with our customers to mitigate the impacts of the security measures that have been implemented recently," he wrote by e-mail.
.
A Siemens spokeswoman, Paula Davis, also said her company was committed to the reconstruction.
.
Two companies with much larger contracts in Iraq, Bechtel and Halliburton, said they had curtailed travel by their employees but were not considering halting their work.
.
"While some travel has been temporarily limited to mission-critical tasks, we are in constant communication with the military, and these restricted movements and increased security measures will not impact getting supplies to soldiers," said Wendy Hall, a spokeswoman for Halliburton, which delivers drinking water, food and fuel used by the American occupation force.
.
Halliburton said in a statement Tuesday that three of the four bodies found near an attack on a fuel convoy in Iraq earlier this month were its employees. A captive Halliburton employee, Thomas Hamill, has been shown in a video distributed by his captors.
.
A major private security provider in Iraq with access to intelligence information said that Halliburton had "been slowed down in terms of the number of routes and convoys they can run" and that the company was having a difficult time hiring truck drivers to work in Iraq. He estimated that the number of company convoys was down by 35 percent.
.
Despite the delays, several government and private officials in Iraq remained optimistic about the long term. "Yes, you have to be careful, take prudent measures to reduce your risk," said Tom Wheelock, director of infrastructure programs for the Agency for International Development, which oversees about $3 billion in Iraq contracts. "And with that context, with those kinds of guidelines, you can have success."
.
David Nash, director of the Coalition Provisional Authority's program management office, which is the process of awarding $9 billion in rebuilding contracts, estimated that during the most intense days of the insurgency in early April, 25 percent of Iraqis hired for his office's projects actually arrived for work. Several major companies said they had been able to continue with nearly all of their projects. In some cases, the work continued within secure perimeters, where non-Iraqi workers remained outside Baghdad until their companies decided that travel was safe again. In other cases, projects have been left entirely to Iraqi subcontractors.
.
"We are still working in all the sectors in which we have active work orders," said Howard Menaker, a spokesman for Bechtel, which has nearly $3 billion in contracts in Iraq. "Over all, we think we will stay on schedule and complete the contracts."
.
But the lockdown by GE, in particular, has led to delays on power projects that involved its huge turbine power generators, in some cases forcing other companies to slow or stop work. The delays are slowing work on a $50 million project to refurbish a large power plant north of Baghdad, said Robert Spaulding, a vice president of operations for Fluor, a major contractor in Iraq. Roughly 70 Iraqis and a dozen non-Iraqi managers are taking apart three GE turbines, but GE has declined to send technical advisers and has been slow to ship new parts, Spaulding said. He added that he might be forced to seek technical help from other companies that have experience with the GE units.
.
"Tell me what's different about having an American construction superintendent at this site," Spaulding said, referring to his own employees there, "but GE won't send an American tech guy?"The New York Times Insurgents stall work by Iraq contractors like GE and Siemens

The insurgency in Iraq has driven two major contractors, General Electric and Siemens, to suspend most of their operations there, raising new doubts about the American-led effort to rebuild the country while hostilities continue.
.
Spokesmen for the contractors declined to discuss their operations in Iraq, but the shutdowns were confirmed by officials at the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity, the Coalition Provisional Authority and by companies working with GE and Siemens in Iraq.
.
"Between the GE lockdown and the inability to get materials moved up the major supply routes, about everything is being affected in one way or another," said Jim Hicks, a senior adviser for electricity at the coalition authority.
.
The suspensions and travel restrictions are delaying work on about two dozen power plants as

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