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Iraqis measure progress with flip of switch
Thu Nov 13, 2008 7:40pm EST
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By Missy Ryan and Aws Qusay
AL-QUDS PLANT, Iraq (Reuters) - For many Iraqis, progress in rebuilding a nation reduced to rubble by years of war and destruction is measured by the flick of a switch.
Electricity has become a central, stubbornly negative, bellwether in assessing how far the country has come since the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.
Iraq's electricity system is improving, but supply still meets only about half of demand, shaping how ordinary people go about their lives and hobbling efforts to rebuild a shattered economy even as violence across the country drops sharply.
Since 2003, goals to improve power supplies have been rolled back again and again, and only about 30 percent of Iraqis today feel they have enough electricity, the U.S. government says.
Iraqi and foreign officials say rebuilding a power grid crippled by years of sanctions, mismanagement and damage from air strikes could take years, especially as electricity demand soars in step with a more open economy.
"One of the regular questions people ask is (why) the most powerful nation on earth has been here for five years, but the lights can't stay on," said Brigadier Hamish McNinch, a senior British military engineer working on electricity in Iraq.
"To completely rebuild the whole infrastructure, that has to come from Iraq. It's a moon landing sort of scale, because it's a huge country and it needs an awful lot of power," he said.
SPIDER WEBS
Shortages hamper the economy as well as ordinary life. Haidar Noor, a grocer in Hilla, south of Baghdad, said power shortages have forced him to reduce stocks of perishable goods.
"In July and August, I had to throw out meat and dairy products every two days because the power was out for long stretches of time. It's killing my profit."
Across Iraqi cities, spider webs of colorful power lines are clustered around every corner, connecting homes to a network of private power generators that have become a lifeline.
For Abdul-Ghani al-Dabbagh, a surgeon in Hilla, relying on erratic state power with the lives of his patients on the line is not an option. He has increased his fees to buy fuel for the generator sitting on the roof of his clinic.
Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, efforts to improve power supplies have been hobbled by attacks on pipelines and transmission works, and violence targeting government workers. Years of drought have also hurt hydroelectric plants.
The U.S.-backed government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki hopes to end regular power shortages by 2012 and triple effective power generation capacity from 5,500 megawatts today.
Yet even meeting current demand will cost Iraq at least $5.5 billion, and will require convincing foreign investors to set aside their concerns about security in a still-violent country. Continued...
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