Power Shortage Disrupts Work at Iraqi Mills

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Power Shortage Disrupts Work at Iraqi Mills ( May 29, 2001 )

Damascus - An acute shortage of electricity has forced the Trade Ministry to seriously think of installing separate generators to power the country's mills and silos.

Blackouts may reach up to 20 hours in areas outside Baghdad. Lack in power supply has halted operations of factories, mills and silos inside Baghdad and in the provinces.

Iraq's power plants were devastated in the 1991 Gulf War over Kuwait and the United Nations estimates that investments of up to 10 billion dollars are needed to revamp the national grid.

The United Nations has approved contracts worth 2.3 billion dollars for the electricity sector since Iraq started selling oil under a U.N.-monitored plan in December 1996.

But equipment only worth 233 million has arrived and contracts worth nearly one billion dollars are still on hold in the U.N. committee which vets Iraqi oil exports and purchases of food, medicine and other essential needs.

Lack of power supply is said to have disrupted distribution of wheat flour in the country. Each Iraqi is entitled to 10 kilograms of wheat flour as well as modest quantities of other basic foods.

The Trade Ministry intends to install 30 generators expected to meet the energy needs of 80 percent of mills and silos in the country.

The United Nations says the current deficit in power supply estimated at over 50 percent is bound to continue until more substantial blocks of generating capacity are added.

U.N. observers say power generation deficit at peak demand during the summer months could be as high as 3,294 megawatts.

The state-owned Electricity Board has failed to ensure the linum needs of the country. The board has been ridden with corruption. Its former chief, Salah Kuzeir, was arrested for alleged kickbacks along with a number of his senior engineers.

http://199.97.97.163/IMDS%PMAINTL0%read%/home/content/users/imds/feeds/middlew/2001/05/29/eng-middleeastwire/eng-middleeastwire_000306_174_149612418842

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), May 29, 2001


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