Food, housing and other services for US troops in Iraq will cost four billion dollars more than the Pentagon anticipated in its 2005 budget, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing figures from Halliburton, the parent company of KBR, which provides the services. In December, KBR (Kellogg Brown and Root) submitted a quote for an estimated 10 billion dollars to the Pentagon for the 150,000 US soldiers' meals, lodging and other services in Iraq for the year beginning May 1, the daily said.

The Pentagon had budgeted just 3.6 billion dollars for KBR's services. It managed to reduce some other expenses to pay for a portion of the difference, which initially amounted to nearly seven billion dollars, but it still faces a four-billion-dollar budget gap, according to General George Casey.

"To say that we are not worried would not be true," the general told the daily.

Before the war in Iraq began in March 2003, the US administration estimated that the mission would cost around 60 billion dollars. Since then, the cost has more than tripled, and it continues to rise, according to the Journal.

KBR manages some 80 sites in Iraq. In the last quarter of 2004, the army had a troop-support tab of 18 million dollars a day for the mission in Iraq, the daily said.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2005