$43 million gas station in Afghanistan, Defense Department obfuscation over soaring cost

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has prepared a report on a compressed natural gas filling station in Afghanistan that cost $43 million, many times more than it should have.   A similar station in Pakistan cost no more than $500,000 to construct.  SIGAR said the Defense Department is ill-prepared to explain the enormous cost over-run.  Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, a long-time watcher of wasteful spending, made the following comment on the report.

"This is shocking in multiple ways. The cost of an unnecessary gas station in Afghanistan skyrocketed to a ridiculous height.  Now, the Department of Defense is blocking access to documents and personnel that would shed light on how the money was spent.  The inspector general's auditors have had access only to non-Defense Department documents.  In those documents, they couldn't find any audit trail to show how the original estimated cost escalated to the final $43 million cost.  Under the law, government employees are not authorized to spend tax dollars without proper documentation like contracts, invoices, receiving reports and payment vouchers.   If those documents don't exist, that's a huge problem.  The lack of accountability and transparency is disgraceful.    The Defense Department needs to come clean, drop the obfuscation, and hold people responsible for a colossal waste of tax dollars."