French engineering group Alstom signed a 66 million euro ($93.7 million) contract with Iraq to build and install a power station in the northern province of Nineveh, Iraq's electricity ministry said on Saturday. The plant should start production by the end of next year, ministry spokesman Musab al-Mudarres said in a statement.
The deal requires Iraq to pay 10 percent of the cost to Alstom in advance and 40 percent a year after the start of construction. There were no details on when the rest of the cost would be paid. Iraq's power infrastructure has been badly damaged by decades of war and sanctions, and 8-1/2 years after the US-led invasion, its national grid still only supplies a few hours of power a day. Intermittent electricity is one of the public's top complaints.