Afghanistan’s military headquarters, equivalent to the Pentagon, required three times the original estimated cost and took five years longer to build than anticipated, according to a report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).
The five-story Ministry of Defense building in Kabul “generally met contract requirements and appears well built,” the reports says. It was designed to house a national command center, administration space, dining facilities, bathrooms, secure garage, a 1,000-seat auditorium, a waste water treatment plant, and a heating/cooling system.
The building was supposed to cost $48.7 million but delays of various kinds caused the price tag to balloon to $154.7 million. Afghanistan’s military was supposed to move into the space beginning in October 2010, but were not handed the keys until December 2015, SIGAR says. The building was not fully occupied as of Jan. 7.
Most of the construction is up to code and satisfies the requirements laid out in the original contract. But over the course of six exhaustive inspections, SIGAR officials found several exceptions.
“There were problems with the contract from the outset, including the Afghan National Army refusing the contractor access to the site, as well as delays from weather, security, and funding issues,” the report says. “Despite the increased costs and delays, the MoD headquarters building contains some construction deficiencies, which potentially impact the building’s structural integrity during a seismic event or during prolonged periods of rain.”
That the building is vulnerable to seismic activity is significant because Kabul and surrounding areas of Afghanistan are prone to powerful earthquakes. The building was specifically designed to withstand such temblors, but those features were not fully realized in construction, SIGAR says.
“The building is located in an active seismic zone, a key part of its design was the separation into seven sections to avoid the transfer of forces from one section to the other,” the report says. “The separation joints between sections were designed to be complete breaks in the floors, walls, and ceilings that divide the building into discrete sections.”
Yet inspections found issues with building separation joints needed for seismic activity, lateral bracing of equipment needed for seismic activity, inadequate roof drains to remove storm water, and stairway handrails that were installed below the minimum height required to meet international building code.