Italian aid in Afghanistan: predictable but tied

According to the Afghan NGOs coordination report, the Italian development cooperation disbursed all committed aid in 2007, becoming one of the best performers in disbursement together with Australia and UN Agencies. However, the report questions whether those funds were efficiently spent or got wasted in expensive subcontractors and poor quality work. The report quote the example of the Italian sponsored reconstruction of a Kabul hospital. According to Kabul Press, who investigated the project, UNFPA were given $2.2m for the work, which was sub-contracted to the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), again sub-contracted to an Italian organisation- INTERSOS -, who in turn sub-contracted to an Afghan construction company. On the basis of a government investigation and sources involved with the project, Kabul Press report that less than half of the total budget was spent on the project, and the quality of the work was so poor that it required further reconstruction.

http://www.kabulpress.org/my/spip.php?article830