Posted on 09/11/2006 6:07:17 PM PDT by SandRat
BAGHDAD -- While operations aimed at bolstering security in Iraq continue to move forward, quality of life projects - such as reconstruction, improving the health-care system and building the economy - are also finding success.
An Iraqi construction worker pounds an iron rod into the ground at an electrical substation construction site in Shamia, June 25. The substation, once complete, will provide electricity to the residents of the town. Department of Defense photo by Air Force Tech. Sgt. Adrian Cadiz.
According to a recent Gulf Region Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers report, building an Iraqi health-care system based on primary care and outpatient clinics is a high priority of the Government of Iraq.
To that end, all contracts for the 142 primary health-care clinics in the country have been awarded, according to the Gulf Region Division sources. The contracts - the last of which was awarded Aug. 31 - total more than $185 million.
Currently, three clinics are operational, with three more scheduled to open shortly. Because of the positive relationship between the Corps of Engineers, the Ministry of Health and Iraqi construction companies involved in the work, most of the remaining clinics are expected to be completed between December 2006 and February 2007.
The clinics adhere to the same basic design - six examination rooms, a pharmacy, two dental examination rooms and X-ray facilities. Each clinic is expected to serve between 40,000 and 100,000 patients a year, the GRD Facilities and Transportation Sector estimates.
“We are fulfilling our commitment to deliver modern health care to the Iraqi people using Iraqi contractors,” said Col. Andrew Knapp, Facilities and Transportation sector lead. “Once completed, the clinics will relieve the overburdened outpatient care currently provided by older hospitals and reduce infant mortality by at least 20 percent nationwide.”
In other projects around Iraq, the Facilities and Transportation sector has completed: 834 out of 847 planned schools, 20 out of 32 planned hospitals, 11 out of 17 planned airports, 86 out of 99 planned railroad stations, and 31 out of 34 planned postal facilities.
The ultimate goal of Coalition reconstruction efforts is to restore essential services and help the Iraqi people meet their basic needs without having to rely on outside assistance. Always, the task put to U.S. military civil affairs units is complicated by the necessity of rebuilding a national infrastructure devastated from years of neglect under Saddam Hussein.
Like electricity, safe drinking water is often a rare commodity in some regions. Gulf Region Division engineers view ensuring a clean and accessible water supply as another step toward the establishment of stable and sanitary living conditions for the people of Iraq.
GRD sources said non-functional wells are a common occurrence in many small villages around the country. Thus, when U.S. civil affairs personnel opened a well to residents of the village of Jurn Aug. 22, it was cause for celebration. A stable source of clean drinking water will help curb the spread of water-related illnesses in the area.
On the economic and commerce fronts, the citizens of Iraq’s northern city of Kirkuk are also seeing improved quality of life. The rehabilitation of the Tameem Railway Station is just one case of economic initiative in progress there. With operations back on-line in the local oil fields, additional infrastructure preparation for further economic growth is underway.
The restoration of the railway station facility will assist in generating economic recovery within the region by efficiently transporting people and goods, according to a recent GRD report.
“After years of neglect of the highways and road network, the construction boom we are seeing today in Kirkuk and the need to transport fuel and oil products by road is straining the transportation system,” explained Maj. Craig Guth, a Kirkuk Provincial Reconstruction Team engineer. “Rail is a much more efficient alternative and is necessary for Kirkuk’s continued future development.”
Renovations to the station - undertaken by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Gulf Region North division - included the construction of ancillary buildings, as well as rehabilitation to the existing main structures. A direct link to the region’s high voltage electric grid was constructed, and the lower floor of the station was rebuilt.
The restoration of the station, along with additions to its freight storage capacity, will help fulfill the Iraqis’ vision of their country’s future by laying the foundation for a growth economy.
In other developments throughout Iraq:
(Compiled from official DoD sources)
Four GOOD WAR NEWS Stories from Iraq in this one thread!
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