02 October 2006
Two years ago, a 90 meter chimney at Al Hartha power station in Southern Iraq was on the verge of collapse; a legacy of the 1991 Gulf War and years of under investment. Had it collapsed, power supply equivalent to almost half of what is required for the city of Basra, would have been lost.
But now DFID, working with the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity, has repaired the chimney and secured the equivalent of 24 hour electricity supply to 85,000 Iraqi households.
The project is the latest component of DFID’s infrastructure programme to help supply 470 Mega Watts (MW) in the South by April 2007. The chimney repairs have contributed 170 MW to the 350 MW we have added or secured in Iraq since 2003. Over the next six to nine months we will be adding a further 120 MW. In total, this is enough to provide 24-hour power to around one million people. We have also repaired transmission lines to Basra City, improving electricity supplies to 1.5 million people.
DFID has invested an estimated £78 million on essential infrastructure improvements in Southern Iraq. This particular project at Al Hartha was overseen by an Iraqi contractor and helped create employment for 100 local people. Repairs to the chimney alone cost £750,000 and have taken a year to complete. Our team of contractors have faced innumerable challenges in delivering this project – including temperatures of over 50 Celsius and the ever present danger of attacks from militias and armed groups.
But there is no quick fix to Iraq’s electricity problems, including increased local demand for services that continue to outstrip supply. The challenge now is to help the local authorities deliver visible and sustainable improvements over the next 12 months, especially in Basra, while maintaining the pressure on central government to tackle the structural issues. As part of this, DFID will continue to deliver its existing programmes in Southern Iraq, including our support through the UK-led Provisional Reconstruction Team (PRT).
While these projects help deliver real benefits to the people of Iraq, the Government of Iraq (GoI) will need much larger sums if it is to tackle the substantial medium and longer-term rebuilding of the power sector. The GoI will need to access these funds, from either their own revenue streams or from large development banks such as the World Bank and the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).
That is why we are increasing our focus on offering policy advice to the Ministries in Baghdad to help the GoI achieve this. We are also working hard to encourage greater involvement by the World Bank, JBIC and other donors.
Bookmark with:
What are Bookmarks?
