Iraq’s Minister of Electricity, Ziad Ali Fadel, inaugurated the electrical connection line between Iraq and Jordan on Saturday, state media reported.
A statement from the Electricity Ministry cited by Iraqi News Agency said the 132 KV electricity line will provide residents of al-Rutba in the far west of Anbar governorate with national electricity after suffering for 10 years after Islamic State (ISIS) militants sabotaged the system.
The Governor of Anbar, Muhammad Nouri, and the Chairman of the Parliamentary Oil and Gas Committee, Representative Haibat al-Halbousi, attended the opening of the power line.
The minister of electricity said the Jordan-Iraq electricity project will reach 500 megawatts in its third phase and will “secure energy needs for large parts of Anbar governorate.”
The length of the electricity line is more than 330 kilometers inside Iraqi territory and six meters in Jordan, including 281 towers.
Fadel said the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani seeks to diversify the energy sources and provide allocations to rehabilitate the country’s electrical system through contracts with international companies, Iraqi News Agency said.
The Gulf States also announced the launch of the Basra-Kuwait line with an eventual capacity of 2,000 megawatts in its second phase.
The electricity ministry’s statement noted the ministry was working with the oil ministry to develop Iraq’s electrical system and invest in national gas, instead of importing gas.
