Project to improve electricity supplies in Basra

BASRA / IraqiNews.com: A local company has wrapped up the first stage in a project to improve electricity energy efficiency in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, an official statement said. “The project has been referred by the reconstruction and services committee in Basra and will be financed through the $100 million grant allocated by the prime minister for the province,” according to a statement released by the Iraqi cabinet’s national center for media and received by IraqiNews.com. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of the current year, the statement added, quoting the committee’s secretary, Tareq al-Mousawi, as saying. Basra is the cradle of the first civilization of Sumer. The city played an important role in early Islamic history. The area surrounding Basra has substantial petroleum resources and many oil wells. The city’s oil refinery has a production capacity of about 140,000 barrels per day (bpd). Basra is in a fertile agricultural region, with major products including rice, maize corn, barley, pearl millet, wheat and dates as well as livestock. A network of canals flowed through the city, giving it the nickname “The Venice of the Middle East” at least at high tide. SS (S) 1