Inspection of Improvements to the Khowst City Electrical Power System: Safety and Sustainability Issues Were not Adequately Addressed

摘要

This report provides observations and findings of the inspection that SIGAR conducted on May 15-17, 2009 which examined aspects of the project initiated by the Khowst Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) to improve the Khowst City Electrical Power System. The inspection assessed the design and construction work performed as part of that project in 2008 which was funded with $1.565 million from the Commander's Emergency Response Program (CERP). While this project improved and updated the electrical power service to better meet Khowst City's residential and business needs, our inspectors found that: 1) one of the two contracts for improvements to the Khowst City Power System did not include a number of key requirements; 2) the contractor who was awarded that contract did not meet several important contract requirements; 3) U.S. government quality assurance was inadequate; and 4) the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (GIRoA) may lack the capacity to operate and perform maintenance of the project in a manner that sustains the U.S. government's investment of almost $1.6 million.