WASHINGTON, Aug. 17 U.S. diplomats are complaining about building delays and shoddy workmanship in several government buildings abroad, The Washington Post reported Friday.
For example, the new air-conditioning system in the $66 million U.S. Embassy in Mali experienced a "total failure" in June, causing office temperatures to rise to the 90s, while an electrical fire caused by faulty wiring erupted in the rehabilitated annex to the embassy in Rome, the newspaper said.
The U.S. ambassador in Belize voiced his outrage after he was forced to help workers sand and refinish the floors for new embassy staff housing, the Post said.
Although these events are inconvenient and, in some cases dangerous, many of the diplomats' concerns focus on the ongoing construction of the largest U.S. Embassy in the world -- the $592 million complex in Baghdad.
The Post said the State Department inspector general is investigating the awarding of sole-source contracts for the project, including whether they are unreasonably costly and whether top officials in State's Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations circumvented the process to favor certain contractors.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
