TARIN KOWT, Afghanistan -- Senior Australian and NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan officials traveled to Tarin Kowt to inspect Australian-funded construction projects for the Afghan National Army July 22.
Brig. Gen Simone Wilkie, commander of Australian forces in Afghanistan, Kate Luxford, a senior adviser to the Australian ambassador to Afghanistan and Lucien Well, policy adviser to Australian forces in Afghanistan, together with U.S. Col. Andrew Backus, Director, NTM-A Engineering, and U.S. Col. Omuso George, Director, NTM-A Finance, visited the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Afghanistan Engineer District-South resident office in Tarin Kowt for a morning of briefings and site visits.
“What I saw today gave me a better understanding of the size of these projects, and the challenges in completing them,” Wilkie said. “They are progressing and we look forward to the results of the hard work. Projects of this type are an essential element of the coalition and Afghan strategy to enabling Afghan forces to take the lead for providing stability and security in their own country.”
The Australian government is contributing funds to the coalition that are being used for the construction of garrisons for the Afghan National Army’s 4th Brigade, 205th Division in Tarin Kowt, and the 1st Kandak (Battalion), 4th Brigade, 205th Division in Deh Rawood. Both locations are in Uruzgan province.
Tarin Kowt Resident Office officer in charge Air Force Maj. Emmet McClintock briefed the dignitaries on the status of the projects.
The brigade garrison at Tarin Kowt, when completed in 2013, will provide housing, equipment storage, motor pools and vehicle maintenance facilities for more than 4,700 Afghan Soldiers, said McClintock. The project contractor is finishing concrete foundations and stem walls and will soon begin erecting arch-span buildings. The kandak, garrison at Deh Rawood will support a force of roughly 800 Afghan Soldiers, with similar facilities. The contractor there has completed most of the initial foundation work and is preparing to start placing concrete. Both garrisons, when finished, will include water wells and potable water distribution, wastewater collection and treatment and power generation and distribution systems.
After receiving a briefing on the brigade project at Tarin Kowt, the group traveled to the work site to view progress on the ground.
“You can see from the conditions on the site that the contractor is professional,” Backus said. “The site is clean and well-ordered, the concrete work looks good and the correct safety measures are in place to protect the workers and prevent accidents.
“It is very important that these projects stay on schedule,” he added. “The coalition is making decisions about transition, based on assumptions about when these and similar facilities across Afghanistan will be ready for ANA use.”
| Date Taken: | 07.23.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 07.28.2012 00:43 |
| Story ID: | 92294 |
| Location: | TARIN KOWT, AF |
| Web Views: | 339 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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