Washington, August 15: The investigative arm of the US Congress has questioned the real cost of building the proposed US missile shields in Poland and the Czech Republic.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) in a report to the Congress said that the cost of the controversial plans would exceed $4 billion, a huge increase over the original estimate of $837 million.
The GAO says the initial estimate “did not fully account for the cost of power and utilities at the sites, among other things.”
According to Washington Post, the US Defense Department made the estimate before carrying out key design goals.
The daily says the original estimate had not been reviewed by the Army Corps of Engineers.
The report quoted an Army Corps of Engineers official as saying the construction estimate should be increased “to almost $1.2 billion – $803 million for site in Poland . . . that would house the 10 interceptors and $369 million for the Czech Republic site for the mid-course radar site.”
The GAO says the original estimates had not mentioned the need for construction of support facilities for the missile sites in the two eastern European states.
The panel advised the Defense Department to develop “accurate, realistic, and complete cost estimates for military construction and operations and support for ballistic missile defenses in Europe.”
Washington and Moscow are at loggerheads over the US plans to deploy 10 long-range missile interceptors in Poland and a related radar site in the Czech Republic.
The White House says the plan is aimed at countering what it terms as “threats” from countries such as Iran, which has no existing or planned missiles which can reach the US. The Kremlin, meanwhile, believes that the real aim of the system is to neutralize Russia’s nuclear deterrent and therefore sees it as a threat to Russia’s national security.
—–Agencies