The Khor Al Zubair project was the largest U.S. Government-funded power-plant project undertaken in Iraq. Fluor’s success depended on the rapid mobilization of 40 design office professionals and 25 expats to the site. Construction personnel were mobilized to the site when engineering was approximately 15 percent complete, so engineering documents were in use at the site within days of issue.
Fluor hired and trained 1,000 local Iraqi craft workers over the course of the project, employing 20 Iraqi staff members in various disciplines. Fluor also employed security teams to protect the workforce and established rigorous security measures for site access control.
The Iraqi contractors were trained in Fluor’s work-safety culture. Using lessons learned from previous Iraq experiences, the project management team created a detailed health, safety, environmental and security plan tailored to meet the projects’ unique challenges. The Khor Al Zubair project was completed ahead of schedule and under budget while achieving 1.7 million safe workhours.
Each month the Khor Al Zubair project contributed $1 million to the local Iraqi community through the purchase of daily goods, services, subcontracts, and construction materials. Upon completion, the client requested the Fluor team stay onsite to perform plant operations and maintenance consulting for Iraqi Ministry of Electricity employees.
The project increased the power generation capacity of the southern Iraq grid by 20 percent. The success of this grassroots project became a milestone of Fluor's business with the U.S. Department of Defense and the newly sovereign Iraqi government.