Private Firms to Begin Clearing Mines

One of the biggest, riskiest cleanup jobs in history--ridding Kuwait of millions of Iraqi mines and unexploded allied bombs--is about to be privatized.

No civilian firm has ever been hired to tackle an assignment even remotely like it. But within days, the Kuwaiti government is expected to announce its choice of U.S., British and French companies to clear deadly ordnance from huge tracts of its southern and western desert.

“We’re going to be making history,” said Paul Sutton, chief executive of States International of Columbia, S.C., one of three American firms bidding for a contract. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”

Since Kuwait’s liberation two months ago, the cleanup of mines, explosives and undetonated allied cluster bomblets has been handled by coalition military units.

They have destroyed Iraqi munitions supplies and cleared some beaches and harbors around Kuwait city but will not extend their free-of-charge efforts to more remote regions.

Detailed maps of minefields and allied bombing sites have been provided to the private companies.

Kuwaiti officials hope the cleanup can be completed within a year. Western experts say it will take much longer and likely will cost hundreds of millions of dollars.