Page 262 - Global Project Management Handbook

LESSONS LEARNED: REBUILDING IRAQ IN 2004 12-23

project approaches to facilitate working in a war zone, and taking over the scope of failed
efforts by select contractors.
● Accurate reporting to all stakeholders is a must. In this case, the failure of the project
reporting systems to operate effectively in the summer of 2004 caused the PMO to look
as if it were not managing the program properly.

Press Reporting Often Inaccurate

While the American press does an excellent job of accurately reporting the news in the
United States, the American press often misses on international stories. Two examples
of this are as follows: First, the press reported that a contractor left Iraq in December
2004 because it was unsafe to work in Iraq. In fact, that one contractor failed to be able
to complete work in Iraq, whereas about 20 other contractors continued to work in Iraq
successfully. Second, the press reported regularly on the slow progress of the program
in the summer of 2004 without even trying to understand what was happening.

CONCLUSION: IRAQIS NEED TO REBUILD IRAQ

At the time of this writing, the reconstruction program is moving on at a rapid pace. As
of December 31, 2004, approximately 1400 AIRP and IRRF II projects were started,
and as of March 21, 2005, over 2000 projects were underway. However, Americans or
other coalition participants will never be able to rebuild Iraq, just as a group of Arabs
would not be able to rebuild the Gulf Coast after the recent hurricanes.
The good news is that Iraq has the money to rebuild Iraq. Currently, Iraqi oil
money is running about $18 to $20 billion per year. There is widespread agreement
that oil revenue would run $50 or $60 billion per year if Iraq’s oil infrastructure were
expanded and modernized. The estimated cost to bring the oil infrastructure up to date
is $15 billion. Iraq does not have the money today to do this, but Iraq does have over
$500 billion dollars of proven oil assets in the ground, so financing a $15 billion
investment in the oil infrastructure is quite possible. Before this investment can be
made, several things need to happen: (1) Iraq needs to have a stable government in place,

(2) the laws to facilitate foreign investments need to be put in place, and (3) a national
energy policy needs to be developed.
Thus, while we cannot rebuild Iraq, we can help Iraq create a secure environment,
create economic stability, and establish democratic processes with basic freedoms for
the people of Iraq so that in the end Iraqis can rebuild Iraq. And the reconstruction
program will help to do this.