WASHINGTON – A shortage of electricity and fuel at an Iraqi military base has led to deteriorating equipment, difficulties with medical care and spoiled food that sent Iraqi troops to the hospital, a U.S. report says.

The assessment, delivered by Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, said the Al Rasheed Brigade facility was not receiving enough electrical power from the city grid and was relying on generators. But contractors were not supplying enough fuel to keep the five generators going, leading to failures in the wastewater processing and refrigeration systems.

In the most significant incident, the report said 300 Iraqis were hospitalized with intestinal illnesses after eating bad food. The report added that “emergency medical care is severely affected by insufficient power.”

To compensate for the lack of fuel, the report said, portable generators have been “jury-rigged” to individual buildings and created potential fire hazards. The unused equipment will deteriorate, particularly if the Iraqis keep turning it on and off to save fuel.

The report recommended that officials better coordinate with the ministers of oil and finance to make sure the military gets a continuous supply of the fuel.

Other than the fuel problems, the report found that that $64 million base _ which includes headquarters, barracks, maintenance, and warehouse buildings _ is working well since it was turned over to the Iraqi government.

In a separate report, the auditor said there were no negative findings in a review of the project to renovate Baghdad’s Ministry of Defense building.

“During our site visit, the facility appeared to operate as a fully functioning office building,” it said. “This occurred because the project design was adequate prior to construction, there was quality and detailed workmanship by the contractor and adequate” management oversight.

Bowen’s staff is doing a series of assessments on the condition of completed projects that have been turned over to the Iraq government. The intent is to figure out whether the government is capable of keeping them operational.

The building was damaged heavily in bombing during the 2003 U.S. led invasion and by looting later. The project was first estimated at $19 million, but changed over time to cost $31 million.

Associated Press writer Pauline Jelinek contributed to this report.

Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction: http://www.sigir.mil

A service of the Associated Press(AP)