Iraq is planning to build a new thermal energy plant in the Northern Nineveh Governorate within a programme to reconstruct war-damaged facilities, the country’s Electricity Minister was quoted on Wednesday as saying.

Adel Kareem said the project is part of a plan to “rehabilitate” power facilities in the governorate to tackle an electricity supply crisis.

He said there are also plans to build a solar power plant with a production capacity of 100 megawatts (MW) in the governorate, which was devastated during the war five years ago.

“The electricity transportation and distribution facilities in Nineveh have been badly damaged in the war…we have managed to maintain and repair some of them and there are plans to rebuild others,” the Minister told the official Alsabah daily.

“We also have a plan to build a thermal power station and a solar power plant in the governorate,” he added without mentioning project costs.