Kirkuk directorate halts water project due to 'sabotaged' power lines

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A Kirkuk province department on Saturday announced that acts of “sabotage” targeting certain power lines have halted work on a major water project in the region.

The Directorate of Water Resources released a statement shortly after Iraq’s Ministry of Electricity claimed “terrorists” targeted and destroyed a power transmission line between the Erbil and Kirkuk provinces.

“The project was halted due to the sabotage of the transmission line which is the main provider [of power] to the Kirkuk irrigation channel, which feeds the project with water,” read the statement by the Directorate.

It also called on citizens to “ration consumption [of water] until maintenance is carried out on the transmission line.”

The statement did not specify a date on which work was to resume on site, one of the largest water service project in the oil-rich province of Kirkuk.

The Directorate stated in July that the project was 88 percent complete and that water was to flow at a rate of 12 thousand cubic meters per hour.

The project includes 12 sediment basins, each with a capacity of 5,000 cubic meters, along with a number of buildings and technical facilities.

Earlier in August, the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity said the 400 KV electricity transmission lines between Kirkuk and Diyala were subjected to “a terrorist act” in Ausaj valley near the Enjana checkpoint in Kirkuk.

Electricity is a major issue this summer in Iraq, where chronic power shortages sparked weeks-long mass demonstrations in several cities in central and southern provinces.

Editing by Nadia Riva