BAGHDAD, Sept 15 (NNN-NINA) – Iraqi Ministry of Electricity, signed a deal valued at 1.3 billion U.S. dollars with the consortium of the German Siemens and the Egyptian Orascom, to renovate two power plants in Iraq’s central province of Salahudin.
Located near the oil-refinery town of Baiji, some 200 km north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, the two plants were severely damaged by the Daesh militants, who once took control of parts of Salahudin province.
A statement by the ministry said, the two companies will rebuild Baiji 1 and Baiji 2 power plants, which both will add 1.69 gigawatts to the country’s overall power production in 28 months.
The Minister of Electricity, Louay al-Khatib, said that the signing of the contract came, as part of a plan prepared by the Ministry, to rehabilitate the electric power sector in Iraq particularly in the liberated areas from the Daesh.
In May, Iraqi Prime Minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi, visited Germany and signed cooperation agreements, including the signing of a road-map deal valued at around 14 billion dollars of contracts in total, with Germany’s Siemens, to rebuild Iraq’s electricity infrastructure, following years of war.
Currently, Iraq’s capacity of power generation exceeds 18 gigawatts, while its need is more than 24 gigawatts.
Iraq has been suffering acute shortage in power supply, during the years after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, but the post-war governments failed to rehabilitate electricity production, due to corruption and poor management.– NNN-NINA