McCaskill: $330M Kabul power plant goes unused

In the wake of a harsh federal audit, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., is demanding answers about a U.S.-funded, $300 million power plant near Kabul, Afghanistan, that has been “severely unused.”

Citing the June audit by the Office of Inspector General, McCaskill issued a letter to the U.S. Agency for International Development, which oversaw construction of the Tarakhil power plant. Completed by Kansas City contractor Black & Veatch, the project recorded nearly 150 percent cost overruns, and since being turned over to Afghan control in 2010, the USAID has spent about $27 million on maintenance, McCaskill pointed out.

“It has generated only 2.2 percent of the power it was designed to produce,” McCaskill wrote in the letter. “Outrageously, this waste seems to have been entirely predictable and preventable. The Tarakhil generators can combust either diesel or heavy fuel oil. Because of the cold climate and the lack of delivery and storage facilities to handle HFO, Tarakhil must be fueled with diesel, which is extremely expensive to import into Afghanistan. The plant loses money with each kilowatt-hour of electricity it generates.”

The letter requests USAID provide documentation of all contracts, task orders, expenditures, and mission staff and their training programs for the power plant, as well as an analysis of a more economical and affordable fuel supply.
 
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