Feb 25 2008
Qayyara Site Visit
On my three trips outside the wire this week, I visited six different project sites. Before I deployed, I was advised by Woody, a friend from church, to watch out for the construction contractors. Each day brings a new twist. For one road project, the contractor submitted pictures of him beginning construction. The pictures didn’t look quite right. We eventually determined that they were of a different road in an entirely different province of Iraq. We’ve been keeping a close eye on that project since then!
One of the sites I visited this week was the Qayyara drinking water treatment plant. Qayyara is a town south of Mosul on the Tigris River. This project is another one of my problem children. As one of my Iraqi Engineers reported one time, this contractor is only good at “devising the excusing”. I think the contractor on this project is making it up as he goes along. Tiffany, the project engineer, has her work cut out for her. During our visit, some kids came out on the roof of the house next door to watch us.
