Review 16-2-SP: TFBSO CNG Filling Station
On October 22, 2015, SIGAR provided its report on TFBSO’s Downstream Gas Utilization Project to DOD. According to a TFBSO study, the Task Force spent nearly $43 million to construct a compressed-natural-gas (CNG) automobile filling station in the city of Sheberghan, Afghanistan. The main purpose of the project was to demonstrate the commercial viability CNG for automobiles in Afghanistan as part of a broader effort to take advantage of Afghanistan’s domestic natural gas reserves and reduce the country’s reliance on energy imports.
Although TFBSO achieved its immediate objective of building the CNG filling station, it apparently did so at an exorbitant cost to U.S. taxpayers.
In comparison, SIGAR found that a CNG station in Pakistan costs no more than $500,000 to construct. Furthermore, there is no indication that TFBSO considered the feasibility of achieving the station’s broader objectives or considered any of the potentially considerable obstacles to the project’s success before beginning construction.
One of the most troubling aspects of this project is that, when asked, DOD was unable to provide documentation supporting the high cost of the project or to answer any other questions concerning the development, initiation, or outcome of the overall project. In response to SIGAR’s initial request for information, an official from the Office of the Secretary of Defense stated that due to the fact that TFBSO operations had ceased, the Department no longer had the expertise to answer SIGAR’s questions.
H/T John
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