Reconstruction in Baghdad: blast walls

BAGHDAD (AFP) - No matter what reconstruction plans for Iraq are drawn up in New York on Saturday, Baghdad's private contractors do not expect much change in their brisk business of erecting protective blast walls.

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"It won't affect us," said one building contractor, referring to the UN-sponsored meeting which brings Iraq and its neighbours together with major powers and donors to debate how to rebuild the war-torn country.

"We don't need more money, we just need an honest guy to work with this money," said the contractor, who asked that only his first name, Sinan, be used.

The Iraqi government, he said, had allocated four billion dollars in this year's budget for reconstruction and had complained that it in fact needed double that amount.

"But Iraqis ask how this money is being spent. They don't see any results. There is no electricity, no water, no services. The money is disappearing because of corruption."

Sinan said that because his company is small, he does not expect to land any of the big reconstruction jobs being allocated by the Baghdad government.

"In the past, notices would be published in the gazette calling for tenders. Now officials just phone their friends and offer them the work," said Sinan.

A draft report by the US embassy in Baghdad into Iraqi government graft, made public this week, paints a grim picture of corruption at all levels.

It says many ministries are controlled by criminal gangs and militia, and that corruption has now become the norm.

Sinan said that he and contractors like him are mainly involved currently in protecting private homes, offices and businesses from insurgent attack, usually by erecting five-tonne three-metre- (10-foot) high concrete T-blocks shoulder to shoulder around the perimeters of properties.

With Baghdad becoming more walled in by the day, factories turning out the giant domino-like concrete structures are making big money.

But because of the fractured nature of Iraq's political landscape, even what should be a simple task for a contractor to secure the T-blocks is fraught with both difficulty and danger.

"I am a Sunni and the factories are in Shiite areas," said Sinan. "If I go there myself I will be kidnapped because they will know that as a contractor I have access to money."

Instead he has to send an agent to do the ordering, adding about 100 dollars to the 400-dollar cost of each block.

Yassir Jaddu, whose private company is now working on contracts handed out by the US authorities in Iraq, said many contractors had been forced to switch from civil to military contracts because of the precarious security situation.

The bulk of funds allocated to reconstruction, he added, was going towards providing security measures such as blast walls.

"If we measure the money spent on building blast walls you will find that it is more than that spent on fuel, electricity and other services.

"One of our small contracts was to build a wall around a police station in Baghdad. We needed 2,500 concrete pieces. Just imagine how costly that was," he said.

"Now banks, the courts and even the markets are surrounded by walls, not to speak of military camps and police stations. About 99 percent of Iraq's budget is going towards building walls."

Ali al-Attar, director of the reconstruction committee of the Baghdad municipality, said that many contracts have indeed been allocated to improve infrastructure such as water, electricity and sanitation.

"It's not nearly enough to meet needs," Attar told AFP. "But we are striving to do what we can, despite security problems and a limited budget."

International conferences such Saturday's in New York would serve some purpose, he said, provided that donors fulfilled their pledges.

"We want the donor nations to honour their commitments and cooperate with the various authorities and those in charge of works so we can find the right solutions to particular problems."

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