Iraq electricity sector keeps taking hits

BAGHDAD, June 18 (UPI) -- Iraq's Electricity Ministry vows to improve power to citizens despite missed goals and a regular onslaught of attacks on infrastructure and personnel.

"We stress that acts of terrorism will never deter us from striving with all means and in all direction to improve the grid by rehabilitating and repairing power stations, pylons and distribution networks," the ministry said in a statement following the latest attacks.

While the country as a whole struggles for what little electricity it receives, Baghdad was sunk into darkness again, the Iraqi daily newspaper Azzaman reported in English on its Web site.

Electricity towers, or pylons, which send electricity to Baghdad, were attacked at the same time the ministry announced power links from the north to the central parts of the country had been fixed, Azzaman reported.

"We were hoping to increase power supply to meet part of the surge in demand in the hot months of summer, but saboteurs seem to be ahead of our repairs," a ministry source told the paper on condition of anonymity. The source also said "sensitive connections with maximum detrimental impact on the grid" are being targeted.

There have been thousands of attacks on Iraq's electric power infrastructure since May 21, 2003, an expert in safety and security of the energy sector worldwide told UPI on condition of anonymity. The expert said many attacks go unreported in the media, thus preventing an accurate ceiling on attack numbers.

Last month an average of 3,720 megawatts of electricity was generated per day, below the 6,000 megawatt goal to be reached by July 1, 2004, according to the Brookings Institution's Iraq Index. Demand is as much as 9,000 megawatts.

The entire country averaged about 10.9 hours of electricity per day, while Baghdad averaged 5.6 hours.