TEHRAN (Aljazeera) — The Syrian government has signed an agreement Iran to repair parts of the war-torn country’s power grid, state media said, in an early sign of the major role Tehran is expected to play in Syria’s reconstruction.
The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday, September 12, during a visit by Syria’s electricity minister to Tehran, including building a power plant in the coastal province of Latakia with a capacity of 540 megawatts, Syrian state news agency SANA said.
During the more than six years of fighting, Syria’s infrastructure has taken a tremendous hit. Electricity generation dropped by more than a half from 2010 to 2014, according to the latest figures available from the OECD’s International Energy Agency monitoring group.
Tuesday’s agreement involves restoring the main control center for Syria’s electricity grid in the capital Damascus, SANA said.
“The Syrian government … is working relentlessly to restore the power system,” SANA quoted Syrian Electricity Minister Mohammad Zuhair Kharboutli as saying.
The deal also includes rehabilitating a 90-megawatt power station in Deir Az Zor province, where the Syrian army and allied forces have made swift advances against ISIL in recent days.
