Page 56 - IRANRptDec19

Iraq’s imports of electricity from its neighbour cause consternation in Washington given the Trump administration’s determination to crush Iran’s economy with sanctions that forbid swathes of trade,​ but US officials have little choice but to grant Baghdad sanctions waivers to permit the power contracts—decades of sanctions and conflict have left Iraq, a major oil producer, with a power deficit. Jabber was also cited as outlining how domestic production capacity was 19.5 GW while the country’s needs stood at 26.5 GW. The figures he presented did not include the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
“This is something we are forced to do honestly, because we do not have sufficient generation capacity to meet demand in Iraq,” the undersecretary was further quoted in explaining Iraq’s reliance on Iranian power transfers.
Iraq’s work on diversifying its power suppliers, in the face of substantial pressure from the US, include a project to develop a power link to Gulf Arab states. It is expected to start operating in the summer of 2020. The link’s capacity will be around 500 megawatts.
Jabber also reportedly said that Iraqi consumer bills covered less than 10% of power production costs. He also told his audience that damage caused by Islamic State had cut domestic capacity by about 4.5 GW.
Turkey is another neighbour of Iran that has protested that it does not have enough diversity in energy sources to entirely drop its purchasing of Iranian gas.
Iraqi Electricity Minister Luay al Khateeb told reporters in Abu Dhabi last month that Iraq now had capacity for 18,000 MW of power, up from 12,000-15,000 MW last year. However, peak demand in Iraq can reach about 25,000 MW and it is rising every year.
The minister added that the power sector needed investment worth at least $30bn to upgrade its grid. It is around 50 years old and has lost 25% of its capacity due to Islamic State attacks, he said.
Iran’s first private postal company, Post Aval (“First Post”) has launched, ICTNA.ir has reported.
As part of plans to break up the government-controlled mail monopoly introduced in 2018, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (CIT) is splitting off​ ​sections of the postal industry​ to the private sector.
Under an agreement with Post Aval, which will serve as a central post distributor, some 30 smaller franchises will also enter into deals to deliver mail to regional localities.
As things stand, the nationwide daily mail service deliveries will remain under state-owned Iran Post, but parcels and other services will be handed over to Post Aval.
Some international courier, parcel and express mail operators, including DHL, continue to be active in Iran, but companies including TNT pulled out of the market in 2018.
In March 2018, the CIT ministry​ ​permitted two other companies,​ ​ Tipax and Peikbapa, to deliver parcels domestically.
Iran’s parliament (the Majlis) passed a law in early 2017 allowing for the breaking up of the state monopoly on intercity and city post services. The law stated that tender processes offering licences must be open to all players. Initially, five non-governmental consortiums applied for the licences, but the number of bidders was whittled down to two groups.
56​ IRAN Country Report​ December 2019 www.intellinews.com