Parliament sits to discuss electricity provision, hold readings of bills
Deputy Speaker Hemin Hawrami on 10 December chaired a sitting of the Kurdistan Parliament at which MPs discussed the problem of insufficient electricity provision in the Kurdistan Region, held the first reading of the Draft Resolution on Turkmen National Days in Kurdistan Region, and the second reading of the Bill on Commercial Advertising.
Secretary Muna Kahveci, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Minister of Electricity Kamal Mohammad; Minister of Youth and Culture Mohammad Said; and Minister for Parliament Affairs Dr. Vala Fareed, attended the ninth sitting of the autumn session of the first year of the fifth term of Parliament.
Minister Kamal Mohammad presents electricity provision data and problems in Kurdistan Region
Deputy Speaker Hawrami asked MPs to give their comments and opinions on the current state of electricity provision. Then several MPs suggested that Minister Kamal Mohammad be allowed to speak, which was put to a vote and approved unanimously.
The KRG Minister of Electricity said that currently there are 13 power generation stations in Kurdistan Region, and if there is a sufficient budget and fuel to operate them, they can provide 6,700 MegaWatts of electricity. However due to the budget and fuel insufficiency, electricity production is limited to 3400-3600 MegaWatts this year.
He added that until the first half November, the Ministry managed to provide the public with 21 hours of electricity per a day. Once the cold winter season began resulting in greater electricity needs, this fell to 11 hours per a day.
Minister Mohammad described some of the problems in the sector, including lack of fuel for power generation stations, an insufficient budget and wasting 13% of the produced electricity due to wasteful electricity use or habits.
The Minister said that previously there were five different sources of financing for electricity production, including: The Government’s normal budget, the petro-dollar budget, the provincial development budget, and the Electricity Ministry’s revenue budget. However currently the financing comes only from the government’s normal budget.
Minister Mohammad stated that just to increase electricity generation by 1,000 MegaWatts for 30 days in the winter would require 147 million dollars, which is very difficult.
He provided MPs with detailed electricity distribution data for Kurdistan Region’s provinces, and denied any accusation of unfair distribution.
Deputy Speaker Hemin Hawrami asked the Minister to report all the necessary data to the Kurdistan Parliament, via the KRG Council of Ministers, and asked the relevant parliament committees to include their notes and suggestions on electricity provision in the report, per Parliament’s Rules of Procedure.
Mr. Hawrami also asked MPs to submit their questions and suggestions to the Ministry of Electricity in writing to the relevant committees, so that they can be directed to the Minister for answering as soon as possible.d
First reading of Draft Resolution on Turkmen National Days in Kurdistan Region
The Legislative Committee held the first reading of the Draft Resolution on Turkmen National Days in Kurdistan Region. Parliament’s Presidency directed the draft to the relevant committees for more study and work.
Second reading of Bill on Commercial Advertising in Kurdistan Region – Iraq
MPs and the Minister of Youth and Culture Mohammad Said held an extensive debate over several hours on all the articles of the bill. Parliament’s Presidency asked the Legislative, Culture and Municipalities committees to include all MPs’ and Minister Said’s comments and suggestions on the bill in their joint report, so that the bill can be voted on at its third reading at a future sitting.
