Economic expert warns of credibility of investment committee

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) The economic expert, Sallamah Simaisem, assured that “There are mysterious sides behind the continuaty of the electricity crisis in Iraq,” pointing that ”The electricity committee is standing against whoever wishes to invest in electricity sector by announcing it as (red line) while USD (300) million have been wasted without witnessing any improvement in the situation of the electricity power or even eliminating the electricity crisis.”

Simaisem mentioned in statement to IraqiNews.com that ”According to the last statistics, about 40% of the incom of the Iraqi family goes on electricity,” noting that “Based on the final accounts of Financial Supervision Bureau of (2008-2009) about (USD 300) million have been wasted without witnessing any improvement in the reality of the electricity power.”

She added that ”The parliament did not discuss the final accounts of the Ministry of Electricity and did not result in any notes as an oversight authority above the executive bodies.”

She continued saying that ”We made direct contacts with Swedish companies which wanted to invest in Diwaniya, Basra and Maysan provinces but the investment committee prevented that without any giving reason,” except for saying that ”You can invest in all fields except electricity” describing it as (red line) and “We will not give any investment license in electricity power field.”