Iraq electricity minister seeks more funds
BAGHDAD (AFP) — Iraqi Electricity Minister Karim Wahid urged the government to double his ministry's budget to allow swifter rehabilitation of the country's battered power network in comments published on Wednesday.
"We have asked for four billion dollars to rebuild the power network but the 2008 budget gave us 1.4 billion dollars," Iraqi newspapers quoted Wahid as saying.
"We need 1.5 billion dollars to repair power stations and 2.5 billion dollars to buy new ones."
According to Wahid, Baghdad is receiving less than half of its electricity needs because oil and gas pipelines that supply power stations in the Iraqi capital have been destroyed.
"Baghdad is getting only 1,000 megawatts instead of the 2,500 megawatts it needs," he said.
"Baghdad power stations are not producing electricity because the eight oil and gas pipelines that supply them have been destroyed."
He also complained that power is not being distributed equally to all parts of the city, and blamed this on armed groups.
"If power was distributed equally, it could help resolve the problem. But armed bands threaten to kill employees in distribution centres if their neighbourhoods face power cuts," Wahid said.
The beleaguered minister urged foreign firms to help rehabilitate the power sector which suffered from serious under-investment under Saddam Hussein's regime before being heavily battered by the US-led invasion of 2003 and subsequent sabotage by insurgent groups.
Wahid said in September that Iraq needs 25 billion dollars between now and 2016 to rehabilitate the power network.
