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News | June 15, 2012

USACE transfers $15.5 million Border Police Station in Paktia Province

By John Hardesty , U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

KABUL, Afghanistan (June 15, 2012) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Afghanistan Engineer District-North teamed with the Afghanistan National Police and Technologies, Inc. to build a border police station along the Pakistan border in Gardez, Paktia province.

The recently completed three-year, $15.5 million Afghanistan National Police Border Zone Command station was managed by the district’s Gardez Resident Office. Technologies Inc. built the facility on schedule and project was transferred to the Afghan National Police during a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the border police station. 

The district’s Shank Area Office, one of five area offices throughout the Afghanistan Engineer District-North, provides construction and managerial oversight for the Gardez area which often experiences insurgent activity.

According to Tim Conder, the project engineer indicated Technologies Inc. overcame numerous insurgent rocket attacks, right-of-entry issues and material deliver problems when the Afghanistan-Pakistan Chaman border crossing closed to NATO supply convoys in November.

The project manager, Maurice T. Braxton, explained, “Completing projects located in Gardez or eastern Afghanistan provinces presents challenges due to kinetic insurgent activity. The contractor was able to overcome those obstacles and complete the project on time.”

The newly completed facilities improves the living and working facilities for Afghan Border Police serving along this portion of the Pakistan border as they continue to stabilize their country.

The $15.5 million project represents more than just building a safe and secure Afghanistan, it epitomizes the Corps team of professionals’ work ethic, dedication and wherewithal to build critical capacity, stability and security in Afghanistan.

“Strategically, modern Border Police facilities like this border police station provide the setting where ANP leaders can develop and train a professional police force capable of increasing security in their own towns and villages,” said Afghanistan Engineer district Commander Col. Christopher W. Martin. 

The Corps of Engineers is the primary organization building military bases, police stations, roads, air strips and other infrastructure projects in Afghanistan to increase the country’s stability, security and economy. 

In addition to providing ANSF training facilities, border stations, barracks, dining facilities and other quality of life infrastructure, the district implemented a capacity development program, which creates business opportunities as evidenced by the Afghan-based construction firms receiving contract awards. The impact directly supports coalition counterinsurgency objectives while simultaneously increasing security and stability across northern Afghanistan.

The Afghanistan Engineer District-North and its five area offices manage more than $10 billion in construction projects spread across the districts 21-provincial operating footprint in northern Afghanistan in the past three years. The district is headquartered in Kabul and is one of the Transatlantic Division’s two districts in Afghanistan managing construction projects on behalf of host governments, Defense Department agencies and non-Defense federal agencies. 

The district workforce is comprised of military service members, deployed civilian volunteers, private contractors and local Afghan workers, serve as the primary organization building army bases, police stations, roads, airstrips and other infrastructure, while providing critical capacity building, stability and security while supporting U.S. and coalition forces in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and the Global War on Terrorism in Afghanistan.

Beyond construction management, the district also supports Coalition Forces counterinsurgency efforts to 30 Provincial Reconstruction Teams by providing embedded USACE engineers armed with the expertise to support the NATO-led efforts within the northern part of the country – Regional Command-East, Regional Command-North and Regional Command-Capital.