Power output boosted to 5,400 megawatts

 

By Taghreed Mansour

 

Azzaman, September 27, 2005

 

The country’s power production is now higher than before the U.S.-led 2003 war that toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein, said Electricity Minister Muhsen Shallal.

 

But Shallal said outages which currently may last up to 20 hours a day in some places will continue until 2008.

 

“The ministry now produces 5,400 megawatts and that is a figure we never reached before,” said Shallal.

 

He said his main target was now to reduce power cuts so that Iraqis will have electricity four hours on and two hours off.

 

The output is expected to increase further by the end of the year, the minister said.

 

He said next month two new generating units with a 200 megawatt capacity will be added to the national grid.

 

“We are now installing more generating units at Khor al-Zubair in the south with an additional capacity of 240 megawatts,” he added.

 

This summer was among the harshest for Iraqis. Despite the additional output, demand has been much higher than supply.

 

But Shallal said his ministry was currently in talks with neighboring countries, particularly Iran and Turkey, to boost the country’s electricity imports to 1,000 megawatts in the summer of next year.

 

He said his ministry was recently given $50 million along with additional assistance from Japan that will eventually revive power stations either idle or working way below capacity.

 

He said the Japanese have agreed to boost the capacity of the power station in Musayab to 1,800 from the current 1,200.

 

The state-owned power sector employs more than 50,000 people and Shallal said he was keen to improve their living conditions.

 

“The life of our employees is under constant danger and we have made good progress to raise their wages,” he said.

 

Shallal said his ministry was “a hideout for corruption” under his predecessor Ayham al-Samarrai.

 

His administration has discovered ‘fake contracts” worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

 

“But we managed to stop these contracts when we assumed the responsibility of the ministry,” he said.

 

Shallal said one of his top priorities was how to rid the ministry of “all corruptive elements.”

 

The power infrastructure is also target of sabotage.

 

Shallal said saboteurs carried out three attacks that destroyed three pylons “which greatly affected supplies to the capital Baghdad,” he said.