Energy and Oil Committee: GE contract does not solve the problem

Shafaq News / A member of the Parliamentary Energy and Oil Committee, Ghaleb Muhammad, said on Saturday that the recent contracts with General Electric Company did not solve the electricity problem in Iraq.

Muhammad told Shafaq News agency that "the electricity problem in Iraq is not immediate and cannot be solved by contracting with multiple companies;" indicating that "Iraq had previously contracted with large companies without there being a solution to this problem."

He explained that "Iraq has problems electricity problems in in generation, power transmission and distribution, and networks and transformers," noting that "the recent contract with General Electric was limited to generation without the rest, and therefore the same problem will remain, especially if we know that there is also a shortage of fuel to generate electricity."

Muhammad pointed out that "the solution to this problem is to contract with a solid company that solves all the," adding that "Iraq suffer of corruption which is one of the main reasons for the deterioration of the electrical system.”

Iraq suffers from a lack of electric power, especially in the summer, as the demand for it increases due to high temperatures that sometimes reaching 50 degrees Celsius.

According to the Ministry of Electricity, Iraq's production of electric energy is currently 18,000 megawatts, but it is estimated that the country needs more than 21,000 megawatts at least to reach self-sufficiency.

Iraq contracted last Thursday with the US General Electric Company "GE" operating in the energy field, with a value of more than $ 1.2 billion, to conduct maintenance in electric power stations, improve the power transmission network and link it with Jordan.