Salahaddin Provincial Council is witnessing debates between supporters and opponents for the project of purchasing electricity from the Kurdistan Region, after the province allocated funds from the development budget to buy electricity from Kurdistan that the council voted for last week.
Those parties rejecting the project attribute their refusal to many reasons, including the construction of a generating power station in Kurdistan and not in Salahaddin and fears of bombing the lines carrying electricity to the province.

In addition, they are optimistic about the promises by the Electricity Ministry about the improvement of electricity supply in the near future.

The supporters of the project confirm that the study made about the purchase of electricity proved to be positive and put in place conditions that guarantee the right of the province. They say that none of the promises of the federal electricity ministry given since 2004 have been implemented.

Council member Radi al-Baldawi said that the reason behind his rejection for the project along with a number of members is that the generating power station will be built in Kurdistan and the line that will transfer energy will pass through Kirkuk.

If any emergency or security breach occurred like the bombing of the line, the investing company will say that it will continue its work and in this case the province will be the loser because it will be forced to finance the project even if it does not get electricity.

"We rejected the project 20 days ago but 16 members voted for it out of 28 and the chairman of the provincial council insisted on passing it because according to him the Electricity Ministry didn't apply its promises. But we say the opposite and we're confident about the efforts of the ministry and the population in some provinces are noticing an improvement in the electricity provision.

"We'll try to communicate with the ministry about giving work permits to the project to be studied more if it turned out to be not for the benefit of the province because 128bn IQD ($110m) isn't a small number and it's the annual cost of the project that will be paid for five years."

Salahaddin finance committee member and secretary of the provincial council Niazi Meemar Ughlo said that he was among the opponents of the project in the first round of the vote, but after studying the project and the formation of a committee composed of specialists in this area and providing special study and developing safeguards that ensure the right of the province, many members were convinced and voted for it.

Council member Rashid Khurshid said: "There has been a debate for days about whether the Ministry of Electricity is serious in the provision of electricity and whether it will be able to do so, but most members agreed that since 2004 no improvement has been achieved in the electricity sector, which is one of the priorities of the population after security and food.

"The members were convinced to vote for the project after the safeguards put in place by the investing company where it's bound to establish the station in Kurdistan and connect it to Salahaddin during the 360 specified days or else the company is committed to pay the legal consequences for the delay.

"There are many other points that led us to support the project including the cost of the provision of electricity for the local population, which is less than half the cost of the power generators."

The federal Ministry of Electricity said in a statement issued earlier that it had agreed on the proposal of Salahaddin province about the purchase of 200 megawatts from one of the investors in the Kurdistan Region to reduce the energy crisis.

Kirkuk province was the first to address the electricity crisis through contracting with the Kurdistan Region. The provincial council announced in June last year that an investor in the Kurdistan Region will supply Kirkuk with 200 megawatts of electricity starting from the end of that month, after the approval of the authorities.




AKnews