Orascom’s Baiji station approved by Iraqi cabinet

The Iraqi cabinet Tuesday decided to grant the Baiji gas-operated power station implementation contract to Egypt’s Orascom at a cost of $363 million, a project that is supposed to take 21 months.

“The cabinet agreed to a recommendation by the energy affairs committee to grant the contract to build the Baiji power station, of a capacity of 169×6 megawatt,” according to the Iraqi government official spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh.

Reuters quoted the Iraqi electricity ministry spokesman Musaab al-Mudarris as saying the contract envisages the construction of a power station in Baiji, 180 km north of Baghdad, and the installation of six gas units with a capacity of 169 megawatt for each.

Those six units were purchased by Iraq from Germany’s Siemens in 2008 but they never entered service, said Mudarris, noting the project is expected to be finalized within 21 months.