Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Iraqi RhetIraq: Minister of Electricity
Who: Mohsin Shalash (Minister of Electricity for Iraq)
Source: The Independent UK
Quotes:
Baghdad's power now works in maddening shifts - two hours on, four hours off, then two hours on again. The throb of small generators, enough for a television and a few feeble lights, provides a background buzz in every house.
Sitting in his heavily defended office, he [Shalash] told The Independent that the supply was getting better until 13 July when saboteurs blew up the pylons bringing power to Baghdad from the north.
In the confident days after the fall of Saddam Hussein the Electricity Ministry, influenced by Amercan advisers, ignored contracts agreed under the old regime. New and more expensive contracts for power stations were signed. So far they have produced very little power. "It was a very big mistake," says Mr Shalash.
Mr Shalash confirmed that on several occasions an in-house ministerial committee overseeing contracts refused to sign the papers put in front of them [due to inflated costs]. As a result, new and more compliant committee members were appointed who were willing to sign. He said that ministry officials had been particularly dubious about a contract for Musayib power station that increased in cost from $280m to $350m.
Problems in Iraq never come alone. There are in fact power stations standing idle but they need diesel fuel of which there is a shortage in Iraq. It has to be purchased at high prices from abroad. "We need seven million litres of diesel but we only get 3.5 -4 million litres," said Mr Shalash.
A further difficulty is that Iraqi consumers do not pay for electricity, and are therefore lavish in using it when it is available. They are invariably dismissive of official excuses, refusing to believe that the US could not restore electricity to its pre-war levels.
They repeatedly point out that after the 1991 Gulf War, Saddam Hussein took only six months to patch up the power stations and the national grid, though both had been severely damaged by missiles and bombs.
Source: The Independent UK
Quotes:
Baghdad's power now works in maddening shifts - two hours on, four hours off, then two hours on again. The throb of small generators, enough for a television and a few feeble lights, provides a background buzz in every house.
Sitting in his heavily defended office, he [Shalash] told The Independent that the supply was getting better until 13 July when saboteurs blew up the pylons bringing power to Baghdad from the north.
In the confident days after the fall of Saddam Hussein the Electricity Ministry, influenced by Amercan advisers, ignored contracts agreed under the old regime. New and more expensive contracts for power stations were signed. So far they have produced very little power. "It was a very big mistake," says Mr Shalash.
Mr Shalash confirmed that on several occasions an in-house ministerial committee overseeing contracts refused to sign the papers put in front of them [due to inflated costs]. As a result, new and more compliant committee members were appointed who were willing to sign. He said that ministry officials had been particularly dubious about a contract for Musayib power station that increased in cost from $280m to $350m.
Problems in Iraq never come alone. There are in fact power stations standing idle but they need diesel fuel of which there is a shortage in Iraq. It has to be purchased at high prices from abroad. "We need seven million litres of diesel but we only get 3.5 -4 million litres," said Mr Shalash.
A further difficulty is that Iraqi consumers do not pay for electricity, and are therefore lavish in using it when it is available. They are invariably dismissive of official excuses, refusing to believe that the US could not restore electricity to its pre-war levels.
They repeatedly point out that after the 1991 Gulf War, Saddam Hussein took only six months to patch up the power stations and the national grid, though both had been severely damaged by missiles and bombs.
