US audit finds 'less than 42%' of Bechtel's Iraq projects completed

July 26, 2007
US audit finds 'less than 42%' of Bechtel's Iraq projects completed

IRAQ. US construction giant Bechtel National arrived in Iraq in 2003, on the heels of US troops, with a fat contract awarded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to rebuild the country.

Then in 2004 the company won a second contract, worth a potential US$1.8 billion. Wearing white construction helmets labeled 'Bechtel', the company's construction supervisors oversaw work on hospitals, schools and bridges, and tried to get the water flowing and the electricity turned on.