Nation IN BRIEF : NEW MEXICO : Flawed Data Pushed Up Cost of Dam
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Flawed specifications for a dam in southern New Mexico cost taxpayers an extra $58.9 million, Interior Department auditors concluded. A contractor was awarded a fixed bid of $44.8 million to build the Brantley Dam, located on the Pecos River 15 miles north of Carlsbad and begun in 1984. But contractors later received $58.9 million more for increased construction costs and interest. Government engineers apparently did not tell the contractor of known geological conditions that pushed up the price, auditors said.
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