Same company that cheated Bolvia for water rights now is awarded IRAQ rebulding contract.

Same company that cheated Bolvia for water rights now is awarded IRAQ rebulding contract.
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http://abcnews.go.com/sections/business/US/iraqreconstruction_030422.html

One of the largest contracts given out last week is also one of the ones drawing critics. Bechtel, a San Francisco-based engineering and construction firm, was awarded an initial $34.6 million capital construction contract that could grow to up to $680 million over the next 18 months.

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http://www.pbs.org/now/science/who2.html

The Bechtel Corporation

Founded in 1898, San Francisco-based Bechtel Corporation is the world's largest engineering and construction company, responsible for such high-profile projects as the Hoover Dam and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Bechtel is currently affiliated with projects in over 60 countries.18 According to FORBES Magazine, Bechtel had an annual revenue of $14.3 billion in 2000.19

The link between Bechtel and the Cochabamba water revolt is London-based International Water Ltd., a company co-owned by the Bechtel Corporation and the Italian utilities giant Edison SpA. International Water Ltd. currently has projects in Australia, Poland, the Philippines and Bulgaria, providing wastewater treatment and distribution of potable water.20 In 1999, it was the majority shareholder in a consortium of multinational investors — Aguas del Tunari — which placed a successful, sole bid to win 40-year concession rights for Cochabamba's water and sanitation system.

After The Democracy Center's Jim Shultz helped reveal Bechtel's connection to the events in Cochabamba, he accused the corporation of greed and principal responsibility for the massive rate hikes imposed upon the city's residents by Aguas del Tunari.21 A Bechtel spokesperson maintained that the Bolivian government had agreed to a maximum 35 percent increase for water in the region and that, moreover, high water bills had more to do with increased consumption than with alleged price gouging.22