Iran commits to Iraq's power sector

KARBALA, Iraq, Jan. 3 (UPI) -- Iraq's power sector, looking for needed investors, is getting the loudest and most active response from neighboring Iran.

Most recently, Jalal Bayati, a representative of Iran's Electricity Ministry, met with the governor of Iraq's Karbala province to discuss current and future projects, the Al Mowaten newspaper reports.

Iraq's power sector is a frequent target of terrorists and insurgents, but is also lacking investment directly from Iraq and indirectly through tenders.

"We have the money, the manpower, and the fuel, but we need the material and the supervision," Electricity Minister Karim Waheed Hasan said last month during a visit to Washington, D.C. "I am here to urge U.S. companies to participate in Iraqi reconstruction."

The U.S. Commerce Department's Iraq Investment and Reconstruction Task Force said in a release the ministry will spend $27 billion through 2016 to fix and expand the power sector.

It recently signed two major deals:

A $940 million project with China's Shanghai Heavy Industry for a power plant in the southern Wassit province.

The Iranian firm Sunir was awarded a $150 million project in Baghdad, and Iran is building a plant between Karbala and Najaf provinces.

Iraq electricity is slowly improving, though Iraqis nationwide lack consistent power and at times during last summer went days without any.