Qassem al-Sharifi, an electrician, told Al-Monitor, “Generators were not widely spread before 2003 because of the economic blockade in the 1990s, which prevented the import of electrical appliances from outside Iraq. Yet following 2003, huge numbers of generators entered Iraq due to the economic opening-up in order to compensate for the huge electricity shortages.”
Haider Hussein, a generator owner in al-Shawi neighborhood in Babylon, told Al-Monitor, “The officials’ successive promises and statements to complete electricity projects made [me] believe that generators would not be used at all within two years. Yet the opposite is true, as the supply of electricity to cities is less than the required level.”
This failure in the provision of electricity has caused massive demonstrations in several cities, demanding the reasons behind electricity shortages be addressed, Haider Zoer, TV anchor with Al-Iraqia Satellite channel, told Al-Monitor.
He said, “The generator has become a symbol of corruption in Iraq’s electricity sector.”
The lack of electricity in Iraq has given the neighborhood’s generator owner an important social role, as the people need the paid services he provides. Media figure Ali Alobodi told Al-Monitor that the reason behind this is that “the generator owner is the one who decides whether to provide electricity and imposes the prices for the service as per his own conditions.”
Fahdawi revealed Nov. 30, 2014, that there is a plan to end the electricity crisis in Iraq by 2020. Yet Iraqis have not rejoiced in this, given the multitude of unfulfilled promises in this regard. Former Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Hussain al-Shahristani had said July 12, 2013, that “Iraq will be exporting electricity to neighboring countries. His statement was later ridiculed in the media and by citizens.
Adel Mahmoud, a power engineer, told Al-Monitor that the solution to the electricity crisis “consists in privatizing the electricity sector in order to build new plants, through calling on the expertise of foreign companies who [should be] encouraged to invest in this sector.”
(Picture: Dohuk Power Station)
Comments are closed.