WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- The civil reconstruction of Iraq will cost at least $100 billion, U.S. officials in Baghdad told Iraqi contractors who are vying for some of the work.
"United Nations and World Bank estimates approximated Iraq's infrastructure needs to be about $60 billion (before the 2003 invasion). But this was before we had an opportunity to fully assess the condition of Iraq's infrastructure. After careful analysis, the infrastructure needs have been estimated well over $100 billion," said Terry F. Bautista, director of business management of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region Division.
Bautista spoke Nov. 4 at the Al Rasheed Hotel in the Green Zone in Baghdad to a group of about 300 Iraqi contractors.
Prior to the war, a top State Department official predicted the cost to the United States of reconstruction would be less than $3 billion. Then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said Iraq would largely pay for its own reconstruction.
The U.S. government has put about $22 billion toward civilian reconstruction projects -- most security, power and water related -- with very mixed results so far.
Power is available over 12 hours a day across most of the country, but in Baghdad, home to more than 6 million people, about a quarter of the Iraq population, it is only available for four hours a day. Countrywide, about 46 percent of Iraqi power needs go unmet by the fragile electrical infrastructure.
Iraq's oil industry continues to lag. Prior to the invasion it produced about 2.5 million barrels a day. It is up to about 2.2 million bpd now. But Iraq's lack of refinery capacity and ability to export oil means it lost out on a potential $16 billion in earnings.
Out of a population of 25 million, just 4.6 million Iraqis have potable water, and 5.1 million have sanitary sewage.
