Watchdog Questions USAID Spending on Controversial Afghan Dam Project
Watchdog Questions USAID Spending on Controversial Afghan Dam Project by Heath Druzin, Stars and Stripes
A controversial dam project in Afghanistan is now so over budget that even by the estimates of the U.S. government aid agency that continues to fund it, the cost has far surpassed its potential benefits, the top U.S. watchdog in Afghanistan said.
“This cost increase indicates that the (project) may no longer be economically viable,” Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction John Sopko wrote in an inquiry letter to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) requesting an explanation of the causes and rationale for what he says are major cost increases in the project.
The top USAID official for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Donald L. Larry Sampler, said the inspector general’s letter used the wrong number for his initial calculation and that the estimates derived from that are also much too high…
