CORPS TEAM. New chief Strock, right, confers with Gulf Region point man Bostick.

Last year Strock served as deputy director of operations for Coalition Provisional Authority head Paul Bremer. After a nine-month stateside stint as the Corps’ civil works boss, he replaced retiring Lt. Gen. Robert B. Flowers in July as chief. After returning to Iraq and Afghanistan for briefings, Strock may feel that a better analogy is three-dimensional chess, with a two-minute timer.

Gen. George W. Casey, commander of coalition forces, speaks of a "window of vulnerability" in which the U.S. has approximately 18 months to show results and gain traction. Things are looking up in the power sector, says Brig. Gen. Thomas Bostick, commander of the Corps’ Gulf Regional Division, headquartered in Baghdad. Rehabbed powerplants, new generation and build-out of 400-kv transmission lines put more power online nearly every week. "We’re also bringing in power from Kuwait, Turkey and Syria, with more planned from Iran and Jordan," says Bostick. Imported electricity is a challenge, he says, "because we need to match the frequencies."

UNLOCKED GRID. Coalition efforts, supported by Iraqi work force, continue to put more wattage on the national power network. (Photos above and top by Andrew G. Wright for ENR)

But insurgents still target transmission towers, says Col. Roger Gerber, commander of the Corps’ southern regional office. It’s tough to stay ahead of a burgeoning demand fueled by an appetite for air conditioners and satellite dishes. People in Basrah resent feeding the national grid when they’re still lucky to have power three hours on and three off. The donor nations were supposed to handle "last mile" connections, which would step down power to 33, 11 and 6.5 kv to serve neighborhoods, Bostick says. Project officials say that money has not materialized as countries that took part in last year’s Madrid conference wait for the results of the U.S. election.

Elections are also driving efforts in the Project Contracting Office in Baghdad. But the PCO is looking past November, to January, when Iraqis are scheduled to elect their first national government after Saddam. PCO czar David Nash, after 13 months on the job in Baghdad, is leaving Sept. 19 to work for BE&K Inc. in Birmingham, Ala.

Although some criticized the PCO for being slow off the mark to begin pushing reconstruction contracts through the pipeline, Nash points to the organization’s timeline: 120 days to set up a private-sector project delivery system; 45 days more to mobilize contractors for $5 billion worth of construction; and four months to deliver $1 billion worth of construction, all with a work force of 100,000, mostly Iraqis.

"We’ve learned that Iraq has enormous untapped capacity," says Tom Gibb, PCO’s program director. "By the end of the year, we’ll have more than 1,000 of some 2,500 projects committed. We’re off to the races."

Still, there are rough spots. PCO lost time after June 28, when Paul Bremer left and John Negroponte came on board. The new ambassador immediately ordered...