BAGHDAD, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- the Iraqi government signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with Siemens and General Electric (GE) to provide up to 24 gigawatts of power generation, the Iraqi government said on Monday.
"The Ministry of Electricity signed two MoUs with the German energy company Siemens and the U.S. GE to increase Iraq's production of electricity," Mosab al-Modaris, spokesman of the ministry, told Xinhua.
Modaris said that the Siemens agreement, which valued more than 10 billion U.S. dollars, would add 11 gigawatts to Iraq's power generation capacity during the next four years.
Whereas the agreement with GE, which valued 15 billion dollars, would increase the production of electricity up to 14 gigawatts within three to five years, Modaris said.
Siemens in a statement posted on their website said the "roadmap proposes cost savings in billions of dollars and generating additional electricity 24/7 for 23 million people."
The Siemens agreement includes establishing power plants and upgrading existing ones, and also donations to hospitals, schools, university funding, and vocational training, the statement said.
On the other hand, GE said in a statement on its website that it is "expected to generate up to 14 gigawatts of power, create up to 65,000 direct and indirect jobs and support the government to realize savings and recoverable losses of up to 3 billion dollars per year."
Currently, Iraq's capacity of power generation reaches 15.7 gigawatts, while its need is more than 23 gigawatts, according to Modaris.
Iraq is suffering from acute shortage in power supply during the years following U.S.-led invasion in 2003, but the post-war governments failed to rehabilitate electricity production due to corruption and poor management.
