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confusion reigns, policies clash on
reconstruction
in the wake of the us corporate domination
of iraqi reconstruction, egyptian firms quickly queued up for the
leftovers. according to the egyptian federation of building &
construction contractors, more than 60 companies have registered
to bid on reconstruction subcontracts so far.
many hopefuls are applying via official channels, like the us embassy
in cairo, which appears to “look favorably” on egyptian
participation in the rebuilding of post-war iraq. “the participation
of egyptian companies in the reconstruction... is a welcome thing,”
us ambassador david welch stated in a press release on the us embassy
website in early june. “egypt, of course, is a friend of the
united states, but more importantly, egypt is a friend of the iraqi
people, and has valuable expertise to offer.”
some local company officials, however, complain that the traditional
bidding process is being bypassed, and that only a shortlist of
favorites is being considered.
according to local news reports, egyptian companies have so far
come away empty-handed. some of the more strident critics in the
opposition press have gone so far as to accuse us officialdom of
deliberately leading the egyptian private sector on, with insincere
promises of subcontracts.
but on july 17, senior us embassy commercial officer james joy described
such press claims as “misinterpretations and misunderstanding
of embassy announcements.” earlier statements regarding egyptian
expertise, he added, hardly meant that the embassy could force us
companies to hand out subcontracts to particular firms. “we
just give [local firms] the information they want, and the best
thing we can do is send a letter of recommendation,” joy said.
some local industry insiders, however, say this isn’t enough,
contending that, according to the camp david accords, egyptian and
israeli companies are entitled to priority in projects run by the
us army engineers corps, the authority overseeing reconstruction
work in iraq.
but this, according to us officials, is a misnomer. “it’s
a misinterpretation of the agreement,” joy told business monthly.
“it makes no sense that an agreement signed years ago could
mention something about the war or the reconstruction of iraq.”
according to others in the industry, subcontracts are slow in coming
because many local companies simply aren’t qualified for the
work. they hope to avoid a repeat of what happened during the reconstruction
of kuwait in the early 1990s, when several under-qualified egyptian
contractors won bids. “we shouldn’t let non-qualified
companies secure subcontracts,” said ahmed al sayyed, chairman
of the holding company for building & construction. “egypt
has to avoid the mistakes made in kuwait, which resulted in the
loss of many contracts.”
according to us companies in iraq now, subcontractors must be large
enough for the tasks at hand; must be ready to quickly field their
workforces; and must be prepared to provide their own security.
impatient, perhaps, with the mixed signals emanating from the us
side, egypt may be using its newfound intimacy with japan –whose
companies have been more successful in landing subcontracts than
their egyptian counterparts – to find a backdoor into the reconstruction.
at a july 9 press conference, minister of state for foreign affairs
fayza aboulnaga said an agreement between japan and egypt had been
signed whereby egyptian construction companies would cooperate with
japanese firms in reconstruction projects. “egyptian construction
companies have a good working knowledge of the iraqi private sector
and market, making them attractive partners for japanese construction
companies that have secured contracts in iraq,” aboulnaga said.
and according to a source at the japanese embassy, president hosni
mubarak reiterated egypt’s readiness to cooperate with japan
– specifically on reconstruction projects – during the
japanese prime minister’s visit to cairo in may.
but ironically, while firms did what they could for a piece of the
action, egyptian government officials – attending the world
economic forum meeting in amman, jordan in late june – announced
their formal refusal to participate in the reconstruction. participation,
they argued, would amount to de facto recognition of the us occupation
of iraq, which, officially, cairo doesn’t.
according to the june 26 edition of arabic-language daily al-hayat,
foreign minister ahmed maher, while attending the amman conference,
informed washington that it was important to know how – and
under what authority – the reconstruction process will take
place. he also said that a major role for the un was essential.
the paper noted, however, that the fm didn’t ban the participation
of the egyptian private sector. and, according to a source at the
foreign ministry, maher himself visited japan in may to discuss
egyptian-japanese reconstruction partnerships.
so, for now, egyptian chances of securing subcontracts from tightfisted
american corporations – not to mention cairo’s position
vis-à-vis reconstruction in general – remain unclear.
summer said
with additional reporting by mohamed mursi
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telcos brace to bid on iraq phone network
the coalition provisional authority (cpa) currently calling
the shots in iraq announced that on july 28 it will begin
accepting applications for licenses to build and operate three
cell phone networks in iraq. companies will be required to
bid on two of the three zones in iraq – northern, central
and southern – and must officially apply within 14 days
of the initial solicitation. licenses will be for 24-month
periods.
the contracts – which will serve the more than 16 million
inhabitants of baghdad, basra, kerbala and arbil – may
well be among the most lucrative reconstruction opportunities.
half the landlines in iraq are reportedly down, and it will
take considerable time and effort to get them up and running
again.
egyptian communications company orascom telecom (ot) announced
on june 18 that it, for one, would be bidding. orascom’s
construction branch, orascom construction industries (oci),
has often collaborated on projects with usaid, and the mother
company may hope its past collaborations with the us will
give it an edge. since announcing their intention to bid,
though, ot spokespeople have declined to comment further.
meanwhile, the american communications company mci has already
won a $34 million contract to provide baghdad with a temporary
mobile phone system, although this mainly serves the us military,
civil administrators and the emerging iraqi administration.
as one baghdad-based journalist noted, “the mci network
is mostly for the military and the cpa.”
basra also has a temporary network, while a permanent gsm
network – the politically significant kurdtel –
is based in the north of the country.
the coalition, meanwhile, has apparently disregarded a campaign
initiated in march by us congressman darrell issa (r-california)
to pressure post-war authorities in iraq to employ a cdma-based
network. issa maintained it would be unpatriotic to back the
gsm standard – which is already used elsewhere in the
middle east – over the us-developed cdma system.
interestingly, cdma was developed by qualcomm, a california-based
company from which issa has received substantial campaign
contributions.
ursula lindsey
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