Afghanistan's North East Power System Phase I: Construction Deficiencies, Contractor Noncompliance, and Poor Oversight Resulted in a System that May Not Operate Safely or at Planned Levels

Abstract

In April 2013, the Afghan Ministry of Energy and Water (MEW) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) developed the $10 billion Afghanistan Power Sector Master Plan. The North East Power System (NEPS), which is part of the plan, is intended to expand the high-voltage power system in Afghanistan. NEPS consists of four phases. This report focuses on phase I (referred to as NEPS I), which is expected toprovide electricity to about 30,000 Afghans in Kabul and Logar provinces. In 2012, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) awarded a $60.7 million firm-fixed price contract to State Corps Limited (SCL) to design and construct NEPS I but terminated that contract for default in December 2013. In August 2014, USACE awarded a $39.5 million firm-fixed-price contract to Assist Consultants Incorporated (ACI) to design and construct a new power substation at Pul-e-Alam, 247 transmission towers, and 44 miles of 220 kV power transmission lines from the Arghandi substation to the new Pul-e-Alam substation. U.S. ForcesAfghanistan transferred the transmission towers and lines, and the Pul-e-Alam substation to the Afghan government in January and August 2018, respectively, at which point the government assumed full responsibility for operating and maintaining the system. The 1-year warranty for the transmission towers and lines expired in January 2019, while the warranty for the substation expires in August 2019. The objectives of this inspection to were to determine whether NEPS I (1) was constructed in accordance with contract requirements and applicable construction standards, and (2) is being used.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 2019
Accession Number
AD1137654

Entities

People

  • Abdul R. Rashidi
  • Ahmad J. Khairandish
  • Chelsea Cowan
  • Robert Rivas
  • Steven Haughton
  • Yogin Rawal

Organizations

  • Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Afghanistan
  • Army Corps Of Engineers
  • Civil Engineering
  • Concrete
  • Construction
  • Contractors
  • Contracts
  • Electricity
  • Engineering
  • Engineers
  • Fixed Price Contracts
  • Governments
  • Guarantees
  • High Voltage
  • Law
  • Network Protocols
  • Transmission Lines

Readers

  • Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy Engineering.
  • Government Contracting/Procurement.
  • Library and Information Science/ Studies, Southeast Asia Studies, Bibliography of Vietnam and Lao Studies.