Iraq and German giant Siemens have signed a framework electricity agreement potentially worth billions of dollars. The Iraqi premier was in Berlin to meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/N. Al-Jurani
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Iraq's government and German industrial conglomerate Siemens have signed a framework agreement to upgrade the electricity grid of the power-strapped country.
Siemens chief executive Joe Kaeser and Iraqi Electricity Minister Luay al-Khatteeb "signed an implementation agreement to kick off the actual execution of the roadmap" agreed to last year, the company said in a statement.
"This includes the addition of new and highly-efficient power generation capacity, rehabilitation and upgrade of existing plants and the expansion of transmission and distribution networks," Siemens said in a statement.
Under the first phase of the agreement, the two sides agreed to contracts worth €700 million ($785 million) for the construction of a 500 megawatt gas-fired power plant, the upgrade of 40 gas turbines and the installation of 13 substations and 34 transformers across Iraq.
Iraq: Where water used to flow
The Mesopotamian marshlands in southern Iraq were once the largest wetland ecosystem in Western Eurasia. But after years of drought and political turmoil, they're in danger of disappearing.
Image: John Wreford
A parched land
The Mesopotamian Marshes of southern Iraq are a rare area of wetland in a sea of desert, and are fed by the waters of the Tigris-Euphrates river system. Drought is often an issue in Iraq but a lack of rainfall, internal political strife and the damming of rivers further upstream in Turkey have combined to make the current situation even more dire.
Image: John Wreford
Food remains scarce
Buffalo struggle to find enough to eat in the parched landscape of the Central Marshes near the town of Al-Chibayish. Temperatures in this part of Iraq can often rise above 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) in summer and climate change is already taking its toll. Drought is becoming more frequent, leading to increased desertification and the reduction of fertile ground.
Image: John Wreford
Keeping a unique culture alive
The Marsh Arabs — also known as the Ma'dan — are comprised of many different tribes. They have developed a unique culture that relies entirely on the diversity of the marshlands they inhabit. For centuries, subsistence farming of water buffalo and fishing have been the mainstays of their survival.
Image: John Wreford
Supporting the local economy
Umm Hassan makes buffalo cream at home which she sells to others in the area. The local economy revolves around the wetlands. The milk is delivered by boat from the buffalo herders, but as the buffalo struggle to find suitable grazing, the yield is falling.
Image: John Wreford
Poisoned earth
A traditional Marsh Arab boat sits on the cracked and dry earth of the Central Marshes. Considered by many to be the location of the biblical Garden of Eden, the marshes once covered over 15,000 square kilometers. During the 1991 Shia uprisings in Iraq, then-president Saddam Hussein drained and poisoned the marshes, driving most of the population into the already overcrowded cities.
Image: John Wreford
A victim of drought
The corpse of a dead water buffalo dumped along a track away from the water of the marshes. Water buffalo have been kept in the marshes since the Sumerian Dynasty. The Sumerians' developments in agriculture, irrigation and the domestication of animals is in part the reason Mesopotamia is known today as the Cradle of Civilization.
Image: John Wreford
A meager catch
Hiba, Zeinab and Hassan sort through their catch of fish. Because of low water levels, the size and quantity of fish is small. The Marsh Arabs once used spears for fishing, but now some are resorting to the illegal use of high voltage electric generators. Many fish species have already completely disappeared from this wetland ecosystem.
Image: John Wreford
Looking after the herd
A young Marsh Arab boy looks after his family's herd of water buffalo in the Hammar Marshes. The family has a herd of around 15, but have lost several to malnutrition and disease. Traditionally the buffalo would leave at sunrise to feed in the marshes and return at sunset. It is now common for them to return before midday, still unfed.
Image: John Wreford
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Iraq premier in Berlin
The announcement came as Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdel-Mahdi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were meeting in Berlin on Tuesday.
Abdel-Mahdi said Iraq planned to make around $14 billion in orders to upgrade electricity infrastructure, which has fallen into poor condition due to war, corruption and mismanagement.
Speaking after their meeting, Abdel-Mahdi gave his assessment of the strength of the IS group, whose leader issued a video statement this week. "IS has not completely disappeared but suffered painful blows," he said, adding that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appeared to be isolated, in an unknown location.
Merkel said the video was a sign that "we will remain occupied for some time to come with the question of how IS can finally be defeated."
Siemens in place
Siemens is already active in Iraq and has a good chance of being awarded "a large part of these projects," he said.
US multinational General Electric is also competing for projects.
"Our claim is that we are a reliable and affordable power supplier to the people of Iraq and want to help them rebuild their country," said Kaeser.
Financing projects
Siemens may also help with financing the projects, which would create tens of thousands of jobs and lead to billions of dollars in fuel savings and revenue generation, the company said.
Siemens intends to increase electricity production in Iraq by around 50% through the building of new power plants, upgrading existing ones and modernizing the inefficient electricity grid.
Iraq suffers from major electricity shortages despite sitting on some of the world's largest oil and gas fields. Much of the country's gas is wasted through gas flares.
