All of the network exhanges of Baghdad were hit in bombing raids in the opening days of the war.

The Bab Al Moatham exchange is in the downtown area, near the banking district and directly next to the city headquarters (Amanat) building. The entire building, except for a five-story staircase on the side of the building nearest the Amanat, will be leveled. The tower also has to go; a bit of a challenge.

The project is headed by the civil engineer Emad, who previously managed demolitions and clearing work for JumpStart at Zafrania.

The project is anticipated to take between 2-3 months, employing about 50 workers.

The interior of the building is a spaghetti of twisted metal and old network exchange equipment, extensively looted.

Exterior view.

After seven days of delay due to the terrorist attack and subsequent construction of security walls, etc., work began again today at the Ministry of Planning complex, with about 60 workers. Workforce will grow to about 80 in the next few months, as one large and two smaller buildings need to be demolished and three partially demolished buildings need to be cleared.

After the attacks, workers were shifted to nearby projects at the NCEC and Ministry of Information. Willing workers have been switched back, while just a few workers injured by the explosion continue to recover in their homes and in the hospital.

Work began today at the Al Mamoon Telecommunications building.

Some 20 workers began clearing the grounds around the bombed structure in preparation for the cranes, which will dismantle the structure.

A view of Al Mamoon from a few miles away. About one quarter of the structure is undamaged and will remain standing in preparation for rebuilding. The other 3/4ths will be cleared.

A view, up close.

From the inside, you can see how the steel structure is bent and is pretty unstable. Getting this building down safely will be a challenge.

Next door to Al Mamoon is "Saddam Tower", which is topped by two restaurants and viewing platforms, reported to be the tallest structure in Iraq, perhaps about 600 feet tall (60 stories) at its highest. The interior of this building has been badly looted. A separate JumpStart team will begin clearing this in a few weeks... a difficult task because there are no elevators and no interior windows out of which to throw the ruins... it takes about half an hour to climb the stairs to the top.

Work began today at the large Al Mamoon site with a crew of 15, four oxygen torch teams, two front-end loaders, two supervisors and one foreman.

The crew will expand over the next week as the ground surrounding of the building is cleared in preparation for cranes to come in to disassemble the structure.

View from 110 feet above the street. This work at this height is extremely dangerous, as a good deal of the building has been blown apart by bombs dropped in the first days of the war.

Iraq Program Manager Sean O'Sullivan surrounded by members of Iraq's Ministry of Telecommunications, the site foreman Alah and crew.

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 View of the Al Mamoon building from a few miles away, showing damage to the structure.

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View of the Al Mamoon building from a few feet away, showing ruins/rubble.

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The Al Mamoon tower next to the telecommunications building, called the "Space Needle" by visitors, is the tallest structure in Iraq, and is topped by two floors of rotating restaurants, which rotated a full 360 degrees every 90 minutes. JumpStart will begin clearance of this tower, which was extensively looted, in about 2 weeks. Clearance of this building is complicated by the fact that the elevators were also looted and it takes about 30 minutes to walk the stairs to the top of the building.

Some pictures before, during and after the NCEC clearing started. 

The project has been underway for about 10 days.

NCEC, Riverfront view.

 NCEC is the headquarters for government engineers working on housing & construction design for Iraq. It was looted and burned during the war.

Crews of JumpStart workers work on multiple floors of the seven-story structure (including full basement).

BEFORE. A floor, viewed from the Northwest corner.

DURING. A floor midway through clearing.

AFTER. A floor after JumpStart clearance. Ready for rebuilding!

Still much work to be done... The project is expected to take another 3 weeks.

Columns are cleared to the concrete structure.

The work is exhausting and dirty. One step at a time!

The Ministry of Information is a very large landmark building in Baghdad with an area of more than 500,000 square feet (50,000 sq m).

Work began today with an exploratory crew of 25 workers. Looters interrupted our clearing of the building, with the leader of the gang firing a gun and advising our workers to leave, saying they worked for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

When Iraq Program Manager Sean O'Sullivan confronted the leader of the gang later in the day, he thanked them for "protecting" the building. The gang leader has helpfully agreed to mind his own business. Work will resume tomorrow.

The work is expected to take approximately one month and at least 100 workers. It is a very large building.

The Outside

The Inside

Iraq Program Manager Sean O'Sullivan met with Deputy Minister Dr. Qasim, who approved JumpStart's assistance in clearing and demolishing a few of the many damaged telecommunications structures in Baghdad.

JumpStart will begin with the Al Mamoon and the Bab Al Moatham sites within one week.

The Ministry has asked for assistance in clearing over 20 buildings.

Work began today on the NCEC with about 30 workers.

The project will be completed in one month, employing some 40-50 workers. The site foreman is Dhia, who previously managed the Baghdad Center Studios/Al Rasheed Theatre clearance.

The Ministry of Housing's National Construction Engineering Consultancy building was completely devastated by extensive looting and fire. The seven story building (including full basement) is approximately 6,000 sq m (60,000 square feet) in size.

Interior

JumpStart International today began work at the Baghdad International Fairgrounds, a compound of about 40 buildings that were looted in the aftermath of the war.

The Baghdad Fairgrounds will be hosting an exposition of 1,100 companies from 45 different countries on March 19-23rd. These companies are hoping to help in the reconstruction of Iraq and the developing commercial markets inside Iraq. (www.i-acci.org)

JumpStart is clearing 31 or 32 of the looted buildings. The buildings range in size from about 300 sq m to over 3,000 sq m. More than 50,000 sq m (500,000 square feet) of buildings will be cleared in this project.

We are also clearing the grounds of the site, over 100,000 sq m, with a crew of gardeners, bucket, a grader, and many dump trucks.

Hayder Munthir is the foreman for this project.

A typical building of the warehouse exhibition hall type.

The crew begins...

The buildings stretch over dozens of hectares/acres in the Monsur area of Baghdad.

Structurally most of the buildings are fine, but all of them have been gutted by looters. A few of the buildings in the complex that were bombed were already removed. We will demolish a few smaller structures.

Work began today on the demolition of a warehouse/workshop of the Zafrania Teaching Institute today.

Approximately 20 workers will be employed to clear the building over a period of 2-3 weeks. Engineer Emad manages the project.