Iranian electricity to restive province

 

By Fuad al-Maadhidi

 

Azzaman, 2005-02-19

 

One of the country’s most restive and most-anti American cities currently receives most of its electricity from Iran, electricity officials in the province of Diyala say.

 

The province, bordering Iran, is a major insurgent stronghold with daily attacks targeting U.S. troops and Iraqi police.

 

Several quarters in Baquba, the provincial capital, are now lit by electricity flowing from Iran, the officials said.

 

Located some 50 kilometers northeast of Baghdad, the city is in the heart of the so-called Sunni Triangle.

 

Several districts in the Diyala province now get their electricity direct from Iran, the officials added.

 

Last year the countries signed an agreement under which Iran pledge to supply the province with nearly 100 megawatts from a power plant close to the Iranian border town of Serbeel

 

Despite their strained relations, Iran is apparently coordinating with Washington, which has roughly 150,000 troops in Iraq, with regard to the situation in the country.

 

Iran is the first of Iraq’s six neighbors to connect to the country’s power grid and start supplying the energy-starved Iraqi market with electricity.

 

The Iranians have extended a 60-kilometer high-voltage power line, 10 kilometers of which were constructed inside Iraq, for the linkup with the Iraqi national grid.

 

Iraq will pay $47 million a year for the energy it receives from Iran.

 

The linkup with the Iranian grid is expected to alleviate outages which currently last up to 20 hours a day in many parts of the country.

 

The electricity officials said they hope the 100 megawatts they are eventually going to receive from Iran will put an end to outages in Diyala.