Jun 26 2012

Iraq says it added 900 megawatts to national grid

By Zeena Sami

Azzaman, June 26, 2012

More good news about power production in Iraq is not matched by better supplies to nearly 30 million Iraqis living under darkness since the 2003-U.S. invasion.

Barely a day passes without the Ministry of electricity announcing a new contract, the completion of a new project or the addition of more megawatts to the national grid.

On Monday, Electricity Minister Kareem al-Jumaili was reported to have inaugurated a 900-megawatt power plant in the religious city of Karbala.

But on Sunday the ministry had communicated bad news to Iraqis who suddenly saw that they had lost the little electricity they had. There was a total shutdown of the national grid for nearly 12 hours due to lack of fuel supplies.

The plant opened in Karbala is one of the largest to be implemented in the post-2003 U.S. invasion.

The ministry’s spokesperson Musaib al-Mudarisi said it cost $1 billion and was implemented by a Korean firm in record time.

He said the Koreans will now only get half the money one year after inauguration and the rest two years later.

The ministry has promised Iraqis to put an end to their suffering from power outages by the end of 2013.

But many in Iraq see the vow as too good to be true since the ministry has dismally failed to honor previous promises.

This post has already been read 1954 times!