The conspiracy theorist in me says the gas station was just a front to funnel the money somewhere else, somewhere with no governmental oversight.
But that person has no proof, of course.
If you want to conspiracy theorize, this fits with the classic gov't construction grift model. Gov't employee gets a huge bribe. Gov't employee gives a huge lucrative to the person who bribed them. They waste of a bunch of money on contractors who don't show up or show up and don't work. Years later its way over budget and the delivered project sucks. That's classic government corruption.
One telltale sign is the amount of overhead - 30 million - on a 42 million dollar project.
The military industrial complex is not that different in form from the massive public works jobs program many propose to replace it with, except that the latter would also have the side effect of good infrastructure.
And would happen at home in the open with competitors and political opponents keeping a watchful eye on things (in their own interest), not in some far off country hidden away from prying eyes.
I always think it's weird that we're so willing to spend tons of money building stuff in other countries, but not our own.
The sad thing is this is where about 90% of your taxes generally go - corruption, nepotism, bribery, private hands.