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Korean company STX Heavy Industries has signed an agreement today to install 25 power plants to generate a total of 2,500 megawatts in Iraq, according to a report from Bloomberg.

“This is a big event as the company will be establishing 25 plants in a region ranging from the southern city of Basra to the south of Baghdad,” Iraqi Electricity Minister Raad Shallal said in a speech during the signing, aired on the state-sponsored Iraqiya television.

The diesel-fired plants will be built over the next 13 months, he said during the ceremony attended by Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

The units are half of the 50 new 100-megawatt power plants planned by the Iraqi government at a cost of $6.25 billion. A group of South Korean companies won the contract for the first 25 installations on April 7.

(Source: Bloomberg)

South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. has started work on a $219 million project to expand a gas-fired power station near Baghdad, Bloomberg has reported.

The Al-Quds station located in a suburb northeast of the capital will increase production to 1,400 megawatts from 900 megawatts withing 18 months, according to Qais al-Waeli, a spokesman for the ministry’s gas projects.

Iraq still struggles with severe electricity shortages eight years after the U.S.-led invasion that ousted President Saddam Hussein. The government has sought bids this year for the construction of more than 60 power plants.

(Source: Bloomberg)

By Ronald P Verdonk, Agricultural Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

In my last piece I made mention of a sizable irrigation equipment purchase by Iraq’s Ministry of Agriculture and underscored the role the private sector needs to play to contribute to the revitalization of the agricultural sector. In this edition of the blog, I’d like to address areas where government has an important role to play in supporting Iraqi farmers.

While much of the cropland north of Kirkuk receives sufficient rain, almost everywhere southward is irrigated. Without question, the irrigation infrastructure would benefit from a well-planned modernization program. One of the most pressing challenges is to ensure adequate water flow at the level of pumping stations, a number of which need new hardware, including the pumps themselves. In addition, it is generally accepted that considerable irrigation water is lost due to canals that are not lined to prevent seepage. Soil salinity and waterlogging must also be dealt with by rehabilitating drainage systems and on-farm canals.

And moving from the “big water” coming off the rivers to the “small water” at the farm level, producers would also be helped by increased electricity supply that can run the irrigation pumps necessary to move water into the fields, in addition to powering refrigeration equipment that would keep produce, meat and fish chilled or frozen. These are some of the fundamental services government can provide, and without a doubt, the Government of Iraq is spending huge sums of money to expand the country’s electricity supply, though it will take a few years to catch up to rapidly increasing demand.

As critical as the availability and quality of water and seed, another fundamental challenge for the Iraqi Government concerns fertilizer supply. For the past few years, the Government of Iraq has cited electricity shortages as a reason for fertilizer plants in Basrah and Al Qaim to run on a part-time basis, and the facility in Bayji has been out of production for at least four years. Iraq has the potential to emerge as a net exporter of fertilizers, but the country is currently dependent on imports, and the import volume not proven sufficient for optimal crop production.

I’m not advocating government fertilizer imports; that’s best handled on the private side, but it is clear that many of Iraq’s development challenges are interrelated. The agriculture sector will benefit as the electricity shortfall is addressed and fertilizer production expands to meet local farming needs.

Wassit local government has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indian company BHEL (Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited) to build a 500 MW power station, according to a report from Aswat al-Iraq.

Taha Rudaini, a member of the local government's Media Committee, told the news agency that the station will be powered by diesel (black oil).

"The province got the final permission from the Ministry of Electricity to build this station", he added.

BHEL has reportedly implemented power stations in Sulaimaniyah, Beiji [Baiji, Bayji], Rumaila (Basra), Oman, Yemen and UAE, in addition to its responsibility of 70 electrical projects in the region.

Discussions to find a venue for the station are underway.

(Source: Aswat al-Iraq)

Iraq's Deputy Premier for Energy, Hussein al-Shahrestani, laid the foundation stone for the new 1250 megawatt al-Khairat power station in Karbala, which will add about 20% to power production in Iraq if completed as scheduled in April 2013.

Iraqi energy officials on Sunday marked the start of work on a 1,250 megawatt power plant with Turkey's Calik Enerji as the power-starved country seeks to boost its electricity output.

The project is being undertaken by Turkish company Calik Enerji, which won the $445.5 million contract in October. The cost is to be repaid based on a deferred payment system as agreed with the Turkish government, Zahi Samit al-Da’mi, the chairman of the Karbala Provincial Council’s power & fuel committee, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

The plant consists of 10 gas turbines, each producing 125 MW, giving 1,250 MW in total. The turbines are among 56 gas turbines the ministry purchased from General Electric in 2008, Sabeeh Qadu, general manager for gas projects in Iraq's Electricity Ministry, told Reuters.

"Today we are celebrating by putting in the foundation of building one of the biggest power generation plants in Iraq," Hussain al-Shahristani, the deputy prime minister for energy, told reporters at the site where the plant will be built in Khairat, 30 km southeast of Kerbala.

A Turkish official said Calik Enerji had so far completed a soil survey at the site, which currently employs 100 people, including engineers and technicians. Around 60 of the 100 employees are Turkish.

Calik also won a $388.5 million contract in March to build a 750 KW power plant near Mosul in northern Iraq.

A subsidiary of Calik Holdings, GAP Construction, will carry out a $195 million project rehabilitating a 19-kilometer expressway between Baghdad International Airport and the city center, as well as landscaping works on a plot with a total area of 1.6 million square meters.

(Sources: Reuters, Hurriyet, Turkish Weekly)

Iraq spent $450 million [540 billion Iraqi dinars] in preparation for the Arab League Summit, which has now been postponed for a year.

The money was spent planting palm trees along highways, re-paving roads and restoring a palace of former dictator Saddam Hussein, according to a report from Reuters.

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said on Thursday the summit had been postponed to March 2012 after being put off twice this year amid regional turmoil and animosity towards Iraq by some Gulf Arab states after it criticised Bahrain's crackdown on Shia'ite protesters.

Revamping Iraq's capital included the refurbishment of six of Baghdad's main hotels and repaving the city's airport road, one of the most dangerous to travel on at the height of the war.

Many are questioning the amount of money spent on a regional summit expected to be attended by heads of state.

"What will we get from the summit? What is the benefit? We, the people, don't understand the language of politics, we seek benefit," a Baghdad barber told Reuters.

"They should have spent it on the electricity sector, which has suffered the most damage. I am 60 years old and in my life, I haven't witnessed any benefit coming from Arab summits."

Ali al-Moussawi, Prime Minister al-Maliki's media adviser, said he was confident the money had not gone to waste.

"It is impossible to ignore our hotels and leave them in such a condition," Moussawi said.

Around $40 million of the allocated $450 million was used to renovate Saddam's Republican Palace, used as a U.S. embassy and military headquarters after the 2003 invasion, while Al Jazeera put the figure at $400m.

The 60-year-old palace, expected to house Arab leaders, has been kitted out with giant chandeliers and paintings of Babylon. Date palms adorn the garden, which also has a swimming pool.

"We had to work around the clock. Everything needed to be repaired, redone," Osman Mimarsinanoglu, chairman of the Turkish Gorkem company told Reuters before the postponement.

The summit may also be a test of readiness for Iraq's army and police. U.S. troops are scheduled to leave by year-end.

(Source: Reuters)

Telecommunications should be one of the hottest growth industries in Iraq, but according to a report from Reuters, providers have yet to introduce 3G technology into a market where the military jams mobile phone networks to stop insurgents detonating bombs.

Poor infrastructure, high operating costs, conflicts between communications regulators and security problems are stunting development in a country slowly rebuilding eight years after the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.

Iraq holds a pivotal geographical position in the region and could be an important communications bridge joining the Middle East with Europe and Asia.

But security remains one of the country's biggest concerns as Iraq's army and police battle a weakened yet stubborn insurgency while U.S. troops prepare to withdraw by December 31.

Jamming of mobile phone frequencies and poor data services are frequent complaints of Iraqis since the 2003 invasion that toppled its autocratic government and paved the way for a cellular phone market and unrestricted access to the Internet.

Mobile phone firms say military jamming costs them millions of dollars in maintaining and upgrading spectrum. Infrastructure damaged by bombs often takes time to repair due to curfews imposed by authorities because of fears of more attacks.

Sometimes companies are forced to wait until security officials have investigated the attack.

Iraq's mobile phone and internet providers also fret over the high cost of fiber optic cables, electricity and security. They say that feuding between Iraq's Communications and Media Commission (CMC) and the Iraqi Telecommunications and Posts Company (ITPC) is hindering progress.

Iraq has received an official request from Jordan to raise oil supplies to 30,000 barrels a day after Egyptian gas stopped flowing to the kingdom when a Sinai pipeline was attacked, AFP has reported.

"I have sent a letter to the Iraqi oil minister and asked to increase the oil supplies from 10,000 barrels a day to 30,000," Khaled Tukan told the Arabic Al-Rai daily.

Jordan imports about 240 million cubic feet of Egyptian gas a day, for 80% of its electricity needs.

(Source: AME Info)

The Basra International Airport in southern Iraq will undergo a major expansion and renovation this year, according to its director.

On the sidelines of the first Iraq Airports Expansion, Cargo and Logistics Conference and Exhibition held in Erbil last week, Abdul Ameer Ganim Abdullah said:

"There are several huge projects that will commence this year, which in return will convert the airport into a major airport in Iraq and the northern Arab Gulf region."

A total of $65 million [78 billion Iraqi dinars] has been budgeted for the purpose by the Iraqi Transport Ministry and the Basra Governorate.

The projects at Basra International Airport, Iraq's third largest airport, include renovation of the passenger terminal, repairing the runway, and adding more air-bridges and other basic services such as water and electricity.

Built in the 1980s by European companies, the airport can handle more than two million passengers a year.

Among the carriers that operate scheduled flights to the port city of nearly three million people are Emirates, Gulf Air, Royal Jordanian and the nation's national carrier, Iraqi Airways.

Turkish Airlines will launch Istanbul to Basra services on May 11. According to the airport director, the German carrier Lufthansa is also planning flights to Basra from Frankfurt.

"We had talks with Lufthansa and the plan is to operate these flights from October," he said, while adding that he hoped Austrian Airlines will follow at a later stage.

Both Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines have scheduled flights to Erbil and Baghdad.

Abdullah also reiterated the readiness of Basra to receive tourists and business delegations from around the world.

(Source: Gulf News)