• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

UK firms given 18 per cent of Iraq`s reconstruction contracts

IRNA

London, Sept 19, IRNA - British companies have so far been given 18 
per cent of sub-contracts awarded by US firm, Bechtel, in Iraq, Trade 
and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt has revealed. 
The sub-contracts given to UK firms were worth an estimated Pnds 
10 million (Dlrs 16 m), Hewitt said in a written reply to parliament 
on Thursday. 
She added that British companies had also secured contracts with 
other organisations funding reconstruction projects in Iraq but that 
she did not have details of their value. 
Bechtel was originally awarded with initial contracts for Iraq`s 
reconstruction work by the US Agency for International Development 
(USAID). Some experts forecast that the awards could become one of the
biggest export bonanzas in history, worth up to Dlrs 100 billion. 
But the continuing security problems in the country were reported last
month to have left British engineering companies still awaiting 
answers to when will there be the opportunities. 
EPCglobal, the London-based international agency specialising in 
services in the engineering and construction industry, suggested that 
the timetable for actual activity remained "shrouded in uncertainty." 
It warned that establishing a valid contract was "fraught with 
difficulty" and that it seemed "very few firms will take the risk with
partners that they potentially have no legal recourse in the event of 
problems." 
HC/211 
End