Documents that detail the construction of a U.S.-backed industrial park in Afghanistan are missing, leaving investigators with little understanding of how the $7.8 million project was mostly empty and without electricity when they visited last year.
Despite having room for 48 businesses, the 37-acre Shorandam Industrial Park, which was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, is home to just four Afghan companies, according to a report made public Wednesday by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.
Located in the southern province of Kandahar, the industrial park included both a power plant built by the Pentagon to provide electricity for Kandahar City and a smaller set of generators meant to light up the industrial park.
The idle power plant swallowed up a third of land that could have been used for private development within the industrial park.
USAID shifted control of Shorandam to the Afghan government in September 2010. The park was one of a trio of industrial facilities USAID tapped Technologists, Inc. to build around the country in 2004 for $21.1 million.
The inspector general did not find any glaring construction flaws such as cracks in the walls or crumbled sidewalks when it surveyed the property in June 2014. *
At that time, just one business — a local ice cream packing company — had moved into the park.
But the watchdog couldn’t complete its inspection of the facility because the construction documents were missing.
“USAID officials were unable to provide the requested contract documents and could not explain their inability to locate the documents,” the report said.
Because Shorandham had no power, SIGAR couldn’t determine whether its electrical and water systems worked properly. Afghan officials told the watchdog the power outage was only temporary while “maintenance was being performed on the USAID-funded generators.”
However, the same problem kept SIGAR from reviewing another Afghan industrial park in January, when the watchdog reported on stacks of missing documents concerning Gorimar Industrial Park in the Balkh province of northern Afghanistan.
Officials blamed the prolonged power outage at that $7.7 million facility on a lack of fuel.
Afghan officials said businesses had shied away from setting up shop in the vacant Shorandam park because U.S. troops controlled the entrance and exit points.
USAID argued the military presence at Shorandam was “a strategic decision was made by all parties involved that the importance of the additional power for the Kandahar area provided by these generators, and robust security for them was more important than the potential deterrent to businesses considering utilizing the park.” 			
Afghan officials stated more companies had expressed an interest in the park in the months since SIGAR’s visit, with four operating on the grounds and 13 “committed” to moving in.
Gorimar Industrial Park was also largely empty when SIGAR visited in May 2014, housing just four businesses despite having space for 22.
Afghan officials told the watchdog the four tenants collectively employed 200 people, but SIGAR discovered two of the companies — a carpet cutting business and a soybean factory — together employed just 30 Afghans.
Gorimar’s $2.5 million generators were supposed to provide power until the park could be connected to the electrical grid, but they never functioned, the inspector general noted.
Afghan government officials told SIGAR they planned to spend the $700,000 to connect the park to the power grid, but there was no evidence that they had taken any concrete steps to do so.
The carpet cutting company at Gorimar relied on its own generator to function at the powerless park. Its manager said the high cost of fuel for the generator prevented him from hiring additional workers.
The carpet cutters also had to pay workers to drill a well so they could access water because the facility had no running water.
SIGAR said it plans to release its review of the third USAID-funded industrial park, this one in Kabul, later this year.
Ben Edwards, spokesman for USAID, said both Gorimar and Shorandam are presently “fully operational.”
“Existing and future business tenants have access to electricity, water, roads and clear title to land in both parks,” Edwards said. “Equipment and infrastructure provided by USAID is already being utilized by business tenants.”
He noted the Afghan government is taking “active steps” to fill the parks with new businesses.
“As SIGAR noted in their report, all major infrastructure components had been constructed and USAID expects more businesses to move in to the park in the coming months,” Edwards said.
