The United Nations Development Programme on Monday transferred four electrical transformers to Gaza in a bid to upgrade the territory's struggling sole power plant. The UNDP, in a statement from its Gaza office, said it brought four transformers and other electrical equipment into the territory as part of a project valued at $3.3 million dollars.
"Installation will take around two months," it said. "After it is completed, the capacity of the power station will be raised from 80 megawatts (MW) to 120 MW and will be able to handle the full productive output of the Gaza power station," it said. Gaza has suffered power outages for years, but has recently experienced the worst electricity and fuel crisis in memory.
The current shortage is largely due to a crackdown on fuel smuggled from Egypt that has forced the power plant to shut down frequently. But the station's capacity was already hampered by several factors, according to the UN's Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, including the destruction of six transformers in a 2006 Israeli air strike.
Israel's civil administration, which controls movement in and out of Gaza, issued a statement on Monday saying it had facilitated the delivery of the four transformers to the Palestinian territory. "Four transformers were brought in order to improve the activity and electricity generation capacity at the station," it said. "Israel continues to supply electricity to the Gaza Strip through the 10 power lines that supply 124 megawatts every day into the Gaza Strip," the statement added.
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