Baghdad deprived of electricity

An official in the Iraqi ministry of electricity said yesterday that Baghdad is deprived of electricity since three days because of destruction operations and technical problems on the high grid lines in the northern part of the country that provide the capital with electricity.

The director of electricity production in the ministry Mohsin Mohsin spoke of the "cutting the ( high tension) line is from the north for technical reasons and this resulted in total cut of electricity." An explosion on Monday resulted in cutting the second electricity line.

Baghdad which basically depends on the northern area for electricity is fed by two lines covering 60% of the current production, representing between 600 to 700 megawatt.

According to the director general of the North electricity establishment Sabah Shakkour, the technical error is a result of the collapse of several electricity high tension columns because of the bad weather conditions on the one hand and the theft operations on the other. He said restoring the electricity line will take 72 hours.