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BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (June 3, 2008) - Parliament
leaders, village elders and other government officials attended a
meeting May 29 at the governor's compound in the Mahmood Raqi
district of Afghanistan's Kapisa province to discuss issues that
have arisen with construction contractors.
Kapisa Governor Abubaker said contractors have been using
low-quality materials, have been doing a poor job on construction
projects and were given jobs they were not fully capable of
finishing. With about 20 construction projects, that include roads
and schools, it is important that the work done is quality work, he
added.
The meeting set the course for new procedures that will improve
communication among Afghan government officials and ensure the
province's construction priorities are met and that the work is
accomplished at an acceptable level of quality, officials said.
Up to now, the governor's office and the provincial development
council prioritized projects by each sector of the province. The
PDC is made up of line directors, who are appointed officials in
charge of various departments.
Once the top construction projects were identified, officials
brought them to the Bagram Provincial Reconstruction Team's
attention for funding.
Under this system, the individuals among each level of the
government were not clearly communicating and no one was
representing the people from the villages. But since no one was
representing the local Afghan villagers in that process, the May 29
meeting was used as the stepping stone to a new plan that will
include every level of government.
The first step was prioritizing projects. Instead of the line
directors prioritizing by sector, they will all meet and do it as a
province. That will help decide what is best for everyone all
around, not just the people in that one area, officials said. When
the decision has been made about which projects the line directors
want worked on, advertising will start to go out that these jobs
are available.
To be considered to do the job, a contractor will have to submit
a bid. Then interviews will be held with the contractors to see who
is awarded the job.
"The contracts shouldn't just be selected by the PRT," said Army
Lt. Col. William Andersen, commander of the Bagram PRT. "We don't
live here; the Afghanistan government officials do. They know the
capabilities of the contractors, and they know the people."
The contractor will be the most fully capable local contractor.
PRT officials want the contractors to be local, because that means
they will hire from the local population, which will help the
economy, said Air Force Capt. David Scott, an engineer with the
Bagram PRT.
The meeting participants also called for monitoring of the
construction projects all the way through.
Sen. Abdul Shakur suggested that a government official should
make sure a contractor has the ability to complete a project before
it begins and check on the contractor in the middle of the project.
If the work that has been finished at the appropriate level of
quality, he said, the contractor would get half of his salary. At
the end of construction and before the contractor could get the
other half of his money, the senator suggested, a government
official would have to approve of the project's quality.
During his speech concluding the meeting, Abubaker brought up an
Afghan engineer and told him in a symbolic gesture that he now has
the authority to monitor and inspect all projects.
"[Until now], it was very rare that you'd see this kind of
meeting among all government officials," said Army Capt. Colin
Hughes, a member of the Bagram PRT.
The meeting marked a major step in the way Afghanistan
government leaders conduct business with each other, one PRT
officials said, noting that Afghan leaders came together when a
problem was occurring that was having a negative effect on their
people, and they had a solution within a few hours.
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