VZCZCXRO1056
PP RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHKUK
DE RUEHIHL #0162/01 3350932
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 010932Z DEC 07
FM REO HILLAH
TO RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD PRIORITY 0879
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0997
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE
RUEHIHL/REO HILLAH 1061

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HILLAH 000162 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL EAIR ECON IZ
SUBJECT: NAJAF, GOI OFFICIALS AGREE TO CLOSER COORDINATION ON 
AIRPORT 
 
REF: HILLAH 125 
 
HILLAH 00000162  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (U) This is a PRT Najaf cable. 
 
¶2. (U) SUMMARY: In a November 28 meeting at the Najaf Aiport 
with the U.S. Transportation Attachi, EmbOffs, PRT Najaf Team 
Leader, 3ID Deputy Division Commander, and the Director General 
(DG) of the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority (ICAA), the Najaf 
Governor and Deputy Governor agreed that a design and 
construction management firm is needed to oversee the completion 
of the Najaf Airport Project (NAP) in accordance with 
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards.  The 
Najaf officials pledged to submit all NAP designs to the ICAA in 
advance of construction and promised to coordinate closely all 
activities with the ICAA in order to ensure ICAO compliance. END 
SUMMARY. 
 
¶3.  (U) On November 28, the U.S. Transportation Attachi, 
representatives from the Transportation Attache's Office (TAO), 
EmbOffs, PRT Najaf Team Leader, PRT Najaf Engineer, GRS 
Engineer, 3ID Deputy Division Commander, and Sabeeh Al Shebany, 
DG of the ICAA, traveled to the Najaf airport where they met 
with Najaf Governor Asaad Sultaan Abu Gelal al-Ta'ie Islamic 
Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), Najaf Deputy Governor Abdul 
Hussein Baqir Abtan (ISCI), Haider al-Mayali, Chair of the Najaf 
Reconstruction Council (NRC), and NAP officials.  The meeting 
provided the first opportunity for DG Sabeeh see the Najaf 
airport and to meet with Najaf officials. 
 
¶4. (U) NRC Chair al-Mayali opened the meeting by providing a 
snapshot of the NAP. To date, Najaf officials have spent USD 
fifteen million on the NAP, building internal roads, a vehicle 
parking lot, eleven guard towers, a security fence, while 
providing fifteen trailers and filling in numerous open wells on 
the site.  Ongoing projects with contracts awarded include a 
runway apron and helipad paid for with 2006 U.S. Economic 
Support Funds (ESF), aircraft turning and parking areas, runway 
resurfacing and lighting, a fire station, airport equipment such 
as portable staircases, the main terminal building and a water 
compact unit.  Projects for which the contracts are expected to 
be awarded in the coming weeks include the principle entry and 
exit road, the electrical distribution system, ten additional 
security towers, and ambulance and postal services.  According 
to NAP Deputy Director Dr. Saeed Abdulla, the current and future 
NAP projects will cost approximately USD 39 million.  An outer 
security wall and the fueling station projects are high priority 
items on Najaf's Prioritized Project List, and will likely be 
submitted for consideration for 2007 ESF support. 
 
¶5. (U) Following the NAP status update, the Transportation 
Attachi commended the local officials for the progress made on 
the NAP, but cautioned that the work must be done in an 
ICAO-compliant manner to promote safety in the air and on the 
ground.  Since the ICAA is charged with certifying ICAO 
compliance, the Transportation Attachi suggested that the plans 
be submitted to the ICAA prior to construction to speed up the 
review process.  He noted that the recently released Boeing 
analysis of the NAP (reftel) highlighted the need for on-site 
aviation experts.  As such, the Transportation Attachi suggested 
that Najaf hire a airport design and construction management 
firm that would share the plans with the ICAA, oversee 
construction and develop ICAO-compliant security and emergency 
plans. 
 
¶6. (U) Deputy Governor Abtan asserted that since the inception 
of the NAP, Najaf officials have been coordinating with the ICAA 
to ensure ICAO compliance.  He pointed out that an ICAA employee 
is working full-time on the site to ensure that international 
standards are applied.  Nevertheless, Abtan conceded that the 
NAP has long suffered from a lack of aviation expertise, and he 
embraced the idea of hiring an aviation consulting firm.  He 
asked that the TAO provide a list of possible firms, and he 
suggested that the ICAA select the firm with which they would 
prefer to work.  The Transportation Attache said that he would 
contact firms that managed the construction of the airports in 
Irbil and Sulaymaniyah, as well as firms based in the U.S., and 
would provide Najaf officials and the ICAA with a short list of 
candidates. 
 
¶7. (U) Responding to several comments from Najaf officials 
stressing the urgency of the completion of the NAP, the 
Transportation Attachi said that he would provide local 
officials within one week a sense of how the hiring of the 
aviation consulting firm would impact the NAP timeline.  When 
asked by Abtan if the USG was prepared to pay for the hiring of 
the firm, PRT Najaf Team Leader explained that the USG officials 
would discuss funding options and present those options to Najaf 
officials as quickly as possible. 
 
¶8. (U) Following the adjournment of the meeting, the Najaf 
Governor asked PRT Team Leader and 3ID Deputy Division Commander 
 
HILLAH 00000162  002.3 OF 002 
 
 
for USG advice and assistance for airport security and long-term 
training for airport management.  In a separate conversation, 
Dr. Abdulla said that DG Sabeeh admitted that the meeting had 
disabused him of the notion that Najaf officials were 
uncooperative with the ICAA, and that he was confident that the 
NAP would proceed with close collaboration between Najaf and 
Baghdad. 
 
¶9. (SBU) COMMENT: The Najaf Governor and Deputy Governor in 
particular have been driven to complete the NAP prior to the 
next provincial election.  Therefore publicly agreeing to hire a 
design and construction management firm, which may delay 
completion of the NAP for many months, was a major concession 
and reflected the reality that a hurried, ICAO-non-compliant 
airport is of little value.  Of equal importance, however, was 
the apparent buy-in the meeting generated for DG Sabeeh.  The 
relationship between Najaf officials and the ICAA had long been 
strained; however, the meeting appears to have laid the 
foundation for close collaboration between Najaf and Baghdad. 
END COMMENT 
 
 
RCLEVELAND 
SIGNATURE