I spent my last few weeks in Iraq in Anbar Province, working as construction manager on a project on the Syrian border. In the video posted below notice the low-tech approach that the Iraqi contracting company takes in pouring concrete. Manpower has been substituted for labor-saving equipment and time-saving techniques.
Why is this the case? To be sure, modern equipment is expensive and tough to get in Iraq, but more importantly, more workers on a job generally translates into fat, short term profits for the subcontractors and for the local politicians and tribal leaders that provide them with the work force. Of course, the subcontractor is usually required to pay the tribal leaders a "fee" for the use of the workers.
Iraqi subcontractors are notorious for skimming off workers' wages--the more workers on a job, the more money there is to skim. Most Iraqi contractors can't seem to grasp that, in the long term, the quicker a project is completed, the bigger the profits will be. Instead, they tend to drag construction projects out as long as possible in order to make as much short term money as possible. This way of doing business is typical throughout Iraq and is difficult for Western builders to adjust to. But most of them do.
Of course, there is another reason why Iraqi contractors generally drag their feet: Since American companies must employ Iraqi companies to do the actual, hands-on work, the Iraqis know they're the only game in town -- they know that American companies must "play nice" with them in order to complete their contracts with the US Government and get paid.
Given the nature of that dynamic, I'm amazed that any US reconstruction projects get completed in Iraq, and from what I've seen, usually to a good standard of quality -- (by Iraq building standards, that is).
The truth is, though, that what Iraqi builders consider to be excellent quality in their own country, would not be considered so in the US or for that matter, in any Western country.
