The Pentagon Spent $60 Million on a Power Station in Afghanistan that Doesn’t Work

April 6th, 2018

Awake Goy

The United States has spent more than $800 billion on the never ending war in Afghanistan, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The bulk of that money was spent fighting the Taliban, but billions have also gone toward rebuilding the country and investing in its infrastructure. A lot of those projects haven’t gone well, and a $60 million power system in northeast Afghanistan that doesn’t provide any power is just the latest example.

According to a new report from John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) mismanaged the project so badly that its powerstation isn’t connected to a power source, hasn’t been tested, and “may be structurally unsound and pose a risk to Afghans who live near transmission towers and lines,” or who work at the station.

Like so many projects in Afghanistan, the North East Power System looked great on paper. The project was supposed to expand the country’s power grid and provide electricity to more than one million Afghans. Instead, it’s unused and untested.

The North East Power System has many problems. The USACE contracted out its construction to an Afghan company that proceeded to build the station and 182 towers to connect it to homes and substations, but, according to the report, “USACE initiated … construction before the Afghan government acquired privately held land along the transmission line route.” Living close to power line towers isn’t safe, and in some cases, people are living and farming directly under the powerlines.

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