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Dept for International Development

Answer

Mrs. Spelman: To ask the Minister of State, Department for International Development what recent assessment has been made of the supply of (a) clean water, (b) sanitation and (c) electricity throughout Iraq. [130308] Mr. Gareth Thomas: Recent assessments suggest that the Baghdad water system is working at approximately 80 per cent. of its pre-war capacity, and that 75 per cent. of the population of Baghdad has access to sewage networks. The supply of clean water and access to sanitation in other areas is difficult to assess accurately. UNICEF and the General Corporation for Water Supply are compiling a database on progress in the water and sanitation sector in order to provide better assessments of the current level of services. Electricity supply throughout Iraq has improved over the last month. On 8 September, power generation had reached 3550 megawatts, approximately 81 per cent. of the pre-war level of 4400 megawatts. The Coalition Provisional Administration has set a target for reaching this pre-war level by the end of September. Work is also taking place to restore the transmission grid, which has suffered particularly badly from looting and sabotage. This will allow the additional power to be used effectively throughout the country to improve the reliability of service and to provide additional power to the less well served areas. In July and August Baghdad had power on a 3 hours on and 3 hours off basis while Basrah had up to 20 hours per day.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

130308; 410 c1012-3W;410 c1010-1W

Session

2002-03

Subjects

Electricity generation Iraq Water Water supply Sanitation Reconstruction

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk