Kurdistan’s Electricity Ministry pledges supply residents with 22 hours power

ARBIL/IraqiNews.com: Kurdistan’s Electricity ministry advisor on Thursday said provinces of Arbil and Sulaimaniya would be supplied with 22 hours power. “The National grid would supply provinces of Arbil and Sulaimaniya with 15 hours by the operation of Arbil gas plant,” Dilshad Mohamed, advisor for Kurdistan’s Electricity Ministry told IraqiNews.com. The advisor noted “private generators would provide seven hours so that the total would 22 in aggregate starting from Friday”. The power grid across Iraqi cities were bombed, looted and sabotaged during and after the US-led invasion in 2003. For five years, Iraq’s state power group has provided an intermittent service of between four and eight hours of electricity a day, depending on the area and the season. Many residents of Iraqi cities have increasingly relied on privately run generators to power their homes. The electricity shortfall meant many residents had to buy their own generators in 2004, and by 2006 the people of some neighbourhoods had banded together and subscribed to large collective generators bought by entrepreneurs. AM(S) 1