Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Promises, Promises

Parsons' "ability to plan, design, construct, and operate diverse facilities and infrastructure systems has satisfied our clients' needs for more than 60 years." Pretty much, for the most part. NYTimes (11.06.07):
"More than a year after the Parsons Corporation, the American contracting giant, promised Congress that it would fix the disastrous plumbing and shoddy construction in barracks the company built at the Baghdad police academy, the ceilings are still stained with excrement, parts of the structures are crumbling and sections of the buildings are unusable because the toilets are filthy and nonfunctioning.

The project, where United States inspectors found giant cracks snaking through newly built walls and human waste dripping from ceilings, became one of the most visible examples of a $45 billion American reconstruction program that is widely seen as a failure."

Iraqi Police Academy Remains Largely Unusable

Ahhh, company flaks. Don't ya just love 'em? "A company spokeswoman, Erin Kuhlman, said that Parsons, which is based in Pasadena, Calif., had strictly abided by the terms of the contract it had received from the United States Army Corps of Engineers to do the work at the academy."

"'Parsons completed its work at the Baghdad Police College in the spring of 2006,' Ms. Kuhlman said, adding that the Army Corps accepted the work as completed at about the same time."

"By July 2006, the company had been notified of problems with the plumbing. Parsons put the Army Corps, in effect the company’s client, in touch with the Iraqi subcontractors who actually carried out the construction, so that the Iraqis could fulfill their warranty to redress shortcomings in the work, Ms. Kuhlman said."

"'After we were notified by our customer of the issues, our customer worked directly with the subcontractor on the warranty work and Parsons has not been asked to provide any additional assistance on this project or with the warranty work,' Ms. Kuhlman said."

So, in a word, fuck off.

Perhaps the better question is has Parsons done anything right in Iraq? Aside from making a lot of money that is.

Labels: ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment