Iraq to award $3b in power plant projects

Doha: Iraq will award seven contracts this month with a combined value of $3 billion (Dh11.01 billion) to build 7,000 megawatts of electricity generation, part of a three-year plan to expand power capacity, an Electricity Ministry official said.

Companies from Iran, Europe, Egypt and South Korea are bidding for the orders, said Kosay Sattar, the ministry's director general of planning.

"Within two weeks, we anticipate we will hand over the sites to the winners," he said yesterday in an interview in Doha, Qatar, where he was attending a conference. The ministry has signed contracts with General Electric and Siemens AG for the equipment needed to produce the plants, he said.

Iraq is building power plants after sanctions and war reduced electricity capacity and caused blackouts. The country will invest about $15 billion by 2015 to increase capacity by 20,000 megawatts to about 27,000 megawatts, Sattar said.

Contracts have already been signed for the remainder of the expansion, which includes 13,000 megawatts of gas-fired plants and 7,000 megawatts of thermal power plants, he said. The government is financing the project without borrowing, according to Sattar.