Contacts: In Washington: Dina El Naggar (202) 4733245 Delnaggar@worldbank.org
WASHINGTON, December 12, 2006 -The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved today a credit of $40 million for the Republic of Iraq. The credit will finance urgent repairs of two hydroelectric power stations located in the Kurdistan region and prepare for their subsequent full rehabilitation.
The Dokan and Derbandikhan Emergency Hydropower Project will support the government of Iraq’s efforts to improve electricity supply in the country in accordance with Iraq’s National Development Strategy, which emphasizes the need for rapid rehabilitation of critical infrastructure to improve basic service delivery.
“The project is the first World Bank operation to benefit Iraq’s electricity sector. We hope that this will be the start of a long-term relationship with the Ministry of Electricity to help Iraq provide a reliable supply of electricity to the entire population,” noted Tjaarda Storm van Leeuwen, the project’s Task Team Leader. “We are also working with the Ministry of Electricity to finalize the preparation of a second electricity project for World Bank financing.”
The objective of the project is to alleviate the current power supply shortfall by improving the operating performance of the Dokan and Derbandikhan power stations through urgent repair works. The project will also strengthen local capacity and prepare for the subsequent full rehabilitation of the Dokan and Derbandikhan hydropower plants in order to restore their original capacity of 400 and 249 megawatts respectively.
The project is part of Iraq’s overall Electricity Master Plan and will provide electricity in the Kurdistan region and to the interconnected national grid. The project will directly impact about 490,000 households and will also benefit industrial consumers, thus improving the standard of living and promoting employment.
The $40 million credit will be provided by the International Development Association (IDA), an arm of the World Bank Group that provides financing on concessional terms to eligible countries. The terms of this credit include a 35-year maturity with a ten-year grace period.
This is the third IDA-financed credit approved for Iraq. The World Bank has previously approved $235 million in IDA credits for education and road rehabilitation. In addition, the World Bank Iraq Trust Fund, within the International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq, has financed fifteen projects amounting to $410 million to improve education, health, household data, irrigation and drainage, social protection, telecommunications, urban infrastructure, and water supply and sanitation.
RSS