In November 2003, San Francisco-based Bechtel awarded Iraq’s United Co. the $1-million subcontract to provide labor to revamp two steam turbines at the four-unit Daura power station on the outskirts of Baghdad.

Fawzi Elia, United’s project manager, explains that the company is responsible for dismantling Units 5 and 6 and determining the repair status in cooperation with Siemens, which built the powerplant in 1981. “We will also have to reassemble the turbines, either by repairing or replacing with spare parts,” he says. “We are also working on the water injection, cooling system and transformers.”

United has 350 employees in Iraq, with 250 working on the Daura project. The company employs 40 others in its fabrication shop, producing vessels and boilers. And it employs 60 at a fine alcohol plant outside Baghdad.

Fawzi is enthusiastic about the project and working with Bechtel, but it has tested the company’s expertise, he says. United has never worked on a project where the turbines were completely overhauled. “During the rehabilitation process, we never know what will happen,” he says. “We are facing problems we have never seen before.”

Restoration has been difficult here as with much of the Iraqi infrastructure because the Baathist regime maximized output at the cost of efficiency, maintenance and safety, Fawzi says. “There was practically no maintenance on the plant before the war. Engineers were forced to take shortcuts to increase production.”

Wafiq Orfali, United’s general manager, also notes, “The previous regime didn’t like to work with the private sector, so this is the first project like this for our company.”

Fawzi says spare parts also have been a problem. “We are importing parts from Jordan,” he says. “But even this has been difficult because of money problems.” Like many Iraqi companies, United has limited access to capital. The banking system is underdeveloped. Instead, a sister company in Jordan, Petrojet, provides some of the money needed to purchase spare parts.

Collaboration between United and Bechtel has been close and effective. When United’s 15 on-site engineers are struggling with technical problems, Fawzi explains, they turn to Bechtel on-site engineers, like Iraqi Youssef Nimir.

“We have been learning a lot from Bechtel,” Fawzi says. “They have a very good system, particularly in cost monitoring, professional consulting and safety.” Before the war, there were few safety standards. Now, workers on the site wear hardhats and are provided on-site supervision. As Iraqi companies like United Co. participate in the reconstruction process, Fawzi believes they will learn new skills.

Nimir, a maintenance engineer, says Bechtel provides support for the project. “Basically, we are supervising work so it gets done as safely as possible and with minimum hazards,” Nimir says. “We provide technical assistance to United Co. and Siemens.”

But Nimir also acknowledges the project’s complexity. “Everything here has to be disassembled,” he says. “You don’t usually see a whole powerplant being taken apart.” The engineers are still in the process of taking apart the turbines, pipes, and fittings at the units. The fourth floor of the powerplant looks like a jigsaw puzzle fresh out of the box.

Nimir and Fawzi both express their dedication to refurbishment of the station—and Iraq more broadly—their work has put them personally in danger.

“The insurgents threatened me because I work with the Americans,” Nimir says. “They came to my house and called me a traitor. Now, I am forced to live in another neighborhood on the other side of Baghdad.” He is concerned that insurgents may target his sisters, who have left the neighborhood, or a brother who still lives in Daura.

Insurgents also have targeted the plant itself. According to the U.S. military, the plant was attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire on Jan. 30.

But fear won’t deter them. “It is my life here on the line,” Nimir says. “I am not doing anything wrong. I am rebuilding my country.”