KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Afghanistan Engineer District-South turned over a district headquarters to the Afghan Uniformed Police in Gozara, on the outskirts of Herat City, March 26.
"The contractor had to overcome the challenges of building on an installation that was in use, and taking a facility that had been partially completed and finishing it. They had to identify deficient work already in place and repair it. They met the challenges and produced a first-class, high quality facility, on schedule," said project engineer Scott Hughes, deployed from the Portland District.
The $1.7 million project includes a headquarters building to support 120 Afghan police with a dining area and kitchen, male and female barracks, conference rooms, weapons storage and offices. It also includes water and wastewater systems, electrical power generation, guard towers and a guard house.
"The quality of this facility testifies to the hard work of the Corps of Engineers, and of the Afghan engineers and workers who built it," said Herat Provincial Governor, speaking through an interpreter. "We need to develop more capacity in Herat, to produce materials and provide workers for these kinds of projects."
"The contractor took over a partially completed, stalled project, worked with our Herat office, managed their schedule aggressively and finished the project on time," said South District Commander Air Force Col. Ben Wham. "I salute them for their excellent work. I also salute the members of the USACE team who worked on this project -particularly Robert Snyder, the Area Office engineer, Scott Hughes, and Afghan quality assurance representatives.
"We have more projects underway of this type, and I hope to see local materials and workers used on them as much as possible," said an Afghan quality assurance representative. "It is great to turn over another district police headquarters, which will help the Afghan Uniformed Police provide security and protect the people of this district."