The US Bechtel Group has been awarded a $680m contract for reconstructing what the US missiles destroyed

WASHINGTON, April 18 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The Bush administration has awarded the biggest contract yet for Iraq reconstruction, worth 680 million dollars, to Bechtel Group, one of the largest, most politically connected construction and engineering firms.

The contract worth up to 680 million dollars and  is the largest of eight Iraqi reconstruction contracts,

The initial award was worth 34.6 million dollars, but it provided for funding of up to 680 million dollars over 18 months subject to Congressional approval, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) said, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

San Francisco-based Bechtel was given the job of emergency infrastructure repair and rehabilitation.

"Restoration of the country's key infrastructure is a priority of the US government's effort to strengthen Iraq's economy and ensure delivery of essential public services to the Iraqi population," USAID said in a statement.

Large Deal

Under the deal, the largest of eight Iraqi reconstruction contracts, Bechtel is to repair, rehabilitate or reconstruct vital elements of Iraq's infrastructure.

The doling out of contracts to US companies for the rebuilding of Iraq has unleashed an international and domestic furor.

Halliburton, a company once run by US Vice President Dick Cheney, had pulled out of the bidding for the contract amid the controversy, US press reports here said.

The Houston-based oil services company, which Cheney ran for five years until 2000, was one of five US firms “invited” by the Bush administration to put in a tender for the contract.

Watchdog groups, Democrats and foreign governments and corporations have complained about the bidding process. USAID invited bids from a few companies it considered qualified.

Contracts have gone to a handful of well-connected firms, including Halliburton, where Vice President Cheney was CEO. Among Bechtel's directors: former Bechtel president George Shultz, President Reagan's secretary of State.

Bechtel, a privately held company based in San Francisco, gave $1.3 million to political candidates from 1999 to 2002, 59% of it to Republicans, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

After the 1991 Gulf War, Bechtel was paid $1.5 billion to repair Kuwait's infrastructure. The 105-year-old firm helped build the Hoover Dam.

Without Bidding

Senior Democrats had already cried foul after the US military gave an Iraqi oil well firefighting contract to Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR) without bidding.

The European Commission also has said it is examining Washington's handout of contracts to rebuild Iraq to see whether the process complies with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

Brussels has said there are grounds for concern that companies based in the European Union are being frozen out of the lucrative rebuilding of roads, airports and oil terminals.

USAID unleashed criticism in Britain when it gave one contract worth 4.8 million dollars (4.5 million euros) to rebuild Iraq's only deep-water port at Umm Qasr -- secured and controlled by British troops -- to Stevedoring Services of America.

Under the latest contract, Bechtel is required to assess and repair power generation facilities, electrical grids, municipal water systems and sewage systems.

The deal includes a provision for the rehabilitation or repair of airport facilities, and the dredging, repair and upgrading of the southern Iraqi port city of Umm Qasr.

The contract may also involve responsibility for the repair and reconstruction of hospitals, schools, ministry buildings and major irrigation structures, as well as restoration of essential transport links.

Bechtel was expected to work subcontractors on some tasks and to "engage the Iraqi population", USAID said.

"The capital construction contract is part of USAID's planned reconstruction assistance to the Iraqi people, aimed at helping maintain stability, ensure the delivery of essential services, and facilitate economic recovery," the government agency said.