The new plant, for which Teknotes was awarded the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract in October 2004, covers the construction of a 750-MW single cycle gas turbine plant. The client, the Electricity Ministry, will provide four GE turbines, while Teknotes will supply the remaining two, also from GE. The Turkish outfit beat off competition from two other companies for the 24-month project, including a UAE-based firm and the US' Washington Group.

According to sources close to the project, work on the plant is expected to move ahead once a letter of credit has been opened and the necessary security guarantees have been reached.

Work on the plant has been held up since 2004 after Technopromoexport pulled its staff out of the country following growing instability in the Baghdad area. The company will build a thermal power plant with total capacity of 1,680 MW. Under the terms of the contact, the Youssifiyah plant is be built in several stages, with the first phase, consisting of three 210-MW units with further units added every six months until the plant reaches its ultimate capacity. 'We will not give up on our projects in Iraq,' a Technopromoexport spokesman told MEED on 30 January.