Mass Global: Supplying Iraqi Kurdistan with electricity

Firstly, we would like to welcome you. We in Mass global company are involved in many sectors which include power plants. We have an active power plant in Erbil which generates 1,000 megawatts, we also have another power plant in Sulaymaniyah which also generates another 1,000 megawatts and another power plant in Duhok which generates 500 megawatts of power. We are also working to develop our project in Erbil since we already signed a contract with Enka company to benefit from the thermal energy generated by the turbines, and then transform it into another 500 megawatts without using any fuel. This will enable our power plant in Erbil to generate 1,500 megawatts. Also hopefully in March 2013, we will sign a contract for a similar project of combined cycle to develop the power plant in Sulaymaniyah adding another 500 megawatts to the original 1,000 megawatts generated by that plant. As for the power plant in Duhok, we are increasing our power production up to 750 megawatts starting from May of this year. We also own and operate Mass Iraq cement factory which produces 12,000 tons of cement on daily basis, and during February we will launch the 3rd line of production boosting the quantity up to 18,000 tons of cement per day. We also have another company called Mass Steal and we’ve been participating in civil projects for one year now with a yearly production of 1,250,000 tons of steel.

A question about electricity: Kurdistan has managed to provide 22 hours of electricity a day while it is considerably less in other parts of Iraq. Can you give us an overview of the power generation sector in the Kurdistan region? What was the governmental policy that enabled this development?

We first started operating in Erbil in 2007, back then the power supply was only 2 hours per day, by 2012 the electricity supply reached the limit of 24 hours during some days while it generally goes up to 22 hours a day most of the time. So we first started with Erbil, then moved to Sulaymaniyah and then began our operation in Duhok. The government’s role was notable, and especially the role of the prime minister who encouraged us to work towards these projects. We met great success with the power-generating project noting that the government support was notable in relation to security and protection of the project. We also want to give our thanks to the Ministry of Electricity for its help since there are many issues that arise after generating the power. Like the transportation (distribution) issue, knowing that it is not easy to generate and then distribute 2,250 megawatts, and in the beginning of the project we used to face lots of problems, but now things got better and we have few problems to deal with. The Ministry of electricity provides any kind of service we might need, whether technical or operational.

In terms of consumption, how much electricity does Kurdistan need? What is the annual growth of consumption and what are the future plans in respect to this?

These matters are to be answered by the Ministry of electricity. We at Mass Global handle the power generating operations but it is the Ministry who is responsible for and who handles the distribution of the generated power. Even the amount of consumption is known and handled by them; we generate the power, sell it to them and they know the amount of electricity needed and they know how to properly distribute it.

Can you tell us about the industrial development of Kurdistan and what are the problems that are related to it?

The industrial sector is in a great need of support from the government, especially when it comes to protecting locally made products from foreign competition. For example, you work to produce an agricultural or industrial product, then you meet competition from neighboring countries who may enjoy less expenses as regards the production, then they come here to compete with the local market which stands weak against them. So the incoming imported goods should be subjected to taxes like it is the case in other countries so that the local market remains capable of competing with the imports.

There should be support in terms of power. For example, the government should take a little in exchange for providing power to industrial factories. There should be support when it comes to lands where factories are built, support with fuel whether its gas or oil, so when the government sells fuel for low prices to these industrial factories the production expenses get reduced and thus they can compete in the market.

How does Mass Global contribute to social and economical development of Kurdistan region?

The role of Mass Global is big, without the power we generate others wouldn’t be able to start and develop huge production projects. No electricity will cause darkness; when an investor comes to the Kurdistan region and notes that there is no electricity, the first thing that will come to his mind is how he will be able to invest here. You can’t invest a lot of money in buying and using power generators. Look at big hotels which need a lot of power; in case of an electricity cut the management is forced to use generators which cost a lot of money and they also cause a lack of stability in work. Even when we look at the security aspect we see that protecting an area with no lights or electricity will be much harder.

But you see that electricity is now available in all areas in the Kurdistan region; for this reason we at Mass Global feel that our contribution to the power generation has helped a lot in terms of the development of the entire region of Kurdistan.