Baghdad, Musab al-Mudaris told AKnews that the ministry has asked parliament to provide appropriate funds in the 2011 budget to resolve the shortcomings that will prevent electricity provisions in the coming season.
“The ministry has legal obligations with a number of international companies,” he said.
One such obligation is a $250m contract with the South Korean firm Hyundai to install gas turbines in Iraq’s Qudus power station.
On top of the $6bn demanded, Mudaris said that in order to strengthen Iraq’s generating capacity; an investment of between $3bn and $4bn a year is needed.
Last year, several civilians were killed in clashes with the police when angry protesters took to the streets to demonstrate against the government as national electricity supplies left them with just four hours of power a day, in temperatures that exceeded 50 degrees centigrade.
Former Electricity Minister Karim Washid was forced to resign due to public pressure at the time.
According to government figures, the energy available to Iraq is around 9 thousand megawatts of energy, while demand is estimated at up to 14 thousand megawatts during the summer months.
“The Ministry of Finance under $5bn which is not enough to complete projects to cover Iraq’s electricity needs for the next season,” he complained.
The Iraqi government has submitted the 2011 federal budget to parliament which stands at $79.6bn, Approval has not yet been granted as many objections have been raised and disputes between the ministries and government institutions continue.
It is expected that the budgetary deficit will reach about $12 billion.
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