Administrator's Weekly Essential Services Report

Administrator's Weekly Essential Services Report January 10 – January 16, 2004 HIGHLIGHTS Almost a quarter of the estimated amount of silt in the Sweet Water Canal has been removed. Royal Jordanian resumed air charter service using its Dash-8 aircraft on January 11, 2004. I. Provide Electricity Services that Meet National Needs Improve generating capacity to 6000MW by July 1, 2004; Fully implement policy on allocation of electrical power; Publish draft of long term strategy; Minimize Sabotage and Improve Security · Average peak output for the reporting period was 3,572 MW (3,507 MW the previous week). The highest daily system peak during the reporting period was 3,719 MW. · Twenty generators, providing 693 MW of electricity, are out of service because of unscheduled maintenance. The generators that are out of service for scheduled maintenance will provide 1009 MW of electricity upon returning to service. Nine generators, providing 443 MW of electricity, returned to service during the reporting period. · Shortages of electrical power in the following governates continues: Karbala Governate (average daily power supply 6 hours); Wasit Governate (average daily power supply less than 8 hours); Diyala (average daily power supply less than 8 hours); and Babil Governate (average daily power supply 4 hours); The city of Ramadi experienced less than 2 hours of average daily power because of an attack on the transmission lines. · Countrywide, Iraq’s electrical output continues to be constrained by damaged transmission and distribution lines. The lines have come down because of sabotage and bad weather. During the reporting period, 10 (400 KV) transmission lines and 6 (132 KV) transmission lines were out of service. II. Reconstruct Communications and Postal Systems Restore fixed phone capabilities, Establish wireless service; Establish Comprehensive Regulatory framework; Establish nationwide emergency service; Invest in computers for ministry; and Establish Postal Service · Despite security problems, Iraqi Telephone and Postal Company (ITPC) continues to work and make progress at all Baghdad switch locations with splicing and jumpering activities. To date, they have connected 37,200 subscribers at 4 of the 12 communication sites being rehabilitated. Over 15,000 subscribers have been connected at Al Mamoun, and 8,200 subscriber lines are fully operational. At Baya, 10,000 subscribers have been connected, and 3,000 subscriber lines are fully operational. Five thousand subscribers have been connected at Kadamiya and 7,200 subscribers at Sinak. · The international satellite gateway is now open for incoming calls to Iraq, and calls have been made from the United States to residences in Baghdad. Subscribers currently require a pre-paid phone card to make outbound calls. · Mr. Ibrahim Khudair, the Iraqi Post Master General, unveiled the first new Iraqi postal stamps at the Central Post Office on January 10, 2004. Five newly designed stamps went on sale this week, the smallest denomination being 50 dinars, which is the new flat national post rate (twice what it was before the war). The new Iraqi postal service has 320 post offices nationwide, two international postal routes through Jordan and Kuwait, and employs 3200 workers (compared with 2400 before the war). · Mobile phone companies will begin service in major towns and cities, and then expand to other population areas, with eventual coverage along major highways. In anticipation of coming online, cellular companies in Baghdad initiated sales to businesses, and plan to start personal sales of wireless phones through 200 outlets soon. III. Provide Food Security for all Iraqis Enhance capacity of Ministry; Assure supply of inputs; Strengthen research system; ensure adequate stocks for Public Distribution System (PDS); monitor food security; hand over administration of system in the North; initiate reform of rations basket; Environment Initiatives · The Coalition Provisional Authority’s Oil for Food (OFF) Coordination Center has been the Oil for Food Program’s operational authority since the United Nations handed it over on November 22. From November 23 to December 24, the Center moved $1.7 billion--500,000 metric tons--of goods into Iraq. USAID partner Bearing Point has placed 46 key staff members around Iraq to support the center’s efforts. These advisors provide resources in planning, program management, logistics, database applications, and communications to support the CPA OFF Coordination Center. · Both CPA and the World Food Program (WFP) have agreed to sign a memorandum of agreement (MOU) to have WFP procure $110 million of food or a one month’s food supply for Iraq. IV. Improve Quality and Access to Housing Increase financing, housing supply, and private ownership · The Ministry of Housing and Construction began reviewing bids for the $100 million Housing program by assigning 13 teams to rank order and review the bids. This will shorten the review and award process, with the objective to start the first project by February. V. Improve Quality and Access to Healthcare Develop health care organizations, management, and infrastructure; train health care professionals; secure system; public health; pharmaceuticals logistic support; strategic communications · The Ministry of Health (MOH) reported that the current doctor/patient ratio in Iraq is 1/1000, compared to the US ratio of 1/3-4000. · Rehabilitation work on 45/69 health clinics is complete. Work continues on 7 clinics in the Southern Region, while 18/34 clinics requiring repair in the South were already completed. 19/27 clinics in Baghdad identified as needing rehabilitation were completed, and 8/8 clinics in the North were already completed. Seventeen clinic upgrades are awaiting funding. · More than three million children under the age of five have been vaccinated under the Expanded Immunization Program (EIP) since June 2003. The full amount of EIP vaccines will benefit 4.2 million children under the age of five and 700,000 pregnant women. In support of CPA, USAID is funding UNICEF to work with the MOH to build capacity to conduct routine immunization campaigns, strengthen the cold chain and conduct monthly vaccine days to reach those children who have not yet been vaccinated (while different for every child, the vaccines administered include: Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR), Diphtheria, Pertussis (whooping cough) and Tetanus vaccine (DPT), Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV), Tetanus Toxoid (TT), Hepatitis B, Measles, and a vaccine for tuberculosis (BCG)). · To complement the EIP, the vitamin A distribution program, conducted by UNICEF in Iraq before the conflict, will be restarted this month. Under the program, vitamin supplements will be distributed on monthly immunization days. · To date, Mobile Health Teams have visited 2,474 families in rural At Tamim Governorate, providing vaccinations to 3,969 people and distributing 2,685 hygiene kits. VI. Improve Quality and Access to Education Print and Distribute revise textbooks; Refurbish 1000 schools; and reform the curriculum; Improve quality of education; Special programs for girls; Special accelerated learning program · The Ministry of Education has begun nationwide discussions on reforming the curriculum. · USAID awarded 503 grants worth more than $5.6 million to rehabilitate schools, resulting in 2,241 schools countrywide being renovated during the 2003/04 school year. · USAID trained 706 master trainers in modern teaching techniques in order for them to train 33,000 secondary school teachers (44 percent of Iraq’s estimated 74,681 secondary school teachers, Source: UNICEF baseline school statistics October 2003) and 3,000 administrators nationwide. · Ministry of Education staff are getting ready to move into the newly renovated Teachers’ Training Institute in A’Damiya, since the ministry headquarters was looted and burned. In addition to rebuilding the new ministry offices, Ministry of Education engineers are conducting surveys of more than 1000 schools throughout Iraq scheduled to be rehabilitated with supplemental budget funds. · The accelerated learning program has now been teaching almost 700 students in five different cities, and is looking to expand. The attendance rates over the first two months of the program are 88 percent, and the male/female ratio is 52/48. VII. Improve Quality and Access to Higher Education Oversee, reform and reconstruct higher education institutions; Re-integrate the universities in the North; Re-integrate Iraqis with global community; Reform curriculum; and provide access to essential information · USAID awarded grants worth $15 million to five U.S. universities to create partnerships between U.S. and Iraqi universities. Five University representatives were recently in Iraq meeting with their Iraqi partners (SUNY- Stony Brook, U. Hawaii, Jackson State U., DePaul U., and U. of Oklahoma). VIII. Provide Water Supply, Sewerage and Municipal Services Create Organization; Restore services to pre-war levels; Municipal Services; · Approximately 220 water treatment plants exist in Iraq, but they are only operating at 65 percent of pre-war levels. Work continues on 4 plants in Baghdad, 1 in the South Central region, 1 in the North, and 14 plants that are part of the Sweet Water system, in order to restore much of Iraq’s water treatment capacity. · Rehabilitation continues on the Sweet Water Canal system, which provides drinking water to 1.75 million residents of Basra City. Twenty-three percent of the estimated amount of silt in the canal has been removed. · The rehabilitation of Baghdad’s Sharkh Dijlah water plant (previously named Saba Nissan water plant) will add 225,000 cubic meters a day to the water supply by May 2004—a 40 percent increase in water supply benefiting 640,000 eastern Baghdad residents. · Thirteen waste water treatment plants provide 3/4 of the nation’s sewage treatment capability. Many of these plants are inoperable or functioning at low capacity. Rehabilitation continues on 8/13 of the worst wastewater treatment plants throughout the country. IX. Improve Water Resources Management Strategy to provide uninterrupted water supplies; Strategy to improve water resources; Build ministry capacity; Advance Water Resources Policy · Water to meet demands for winter crops for the winter 2003 /2004 was provided at a 92 percent rate for the Tigris River basin and 99 percent for the Euphrates River basin. X. Restore Economically – Strategic Transportation Infrastructure Re-open airports and airspace; Ensure commercial operations of port; operate railroad; repair roads and bridges · RJ Charter Service: Royal Jordanian will resume charter service using its Dash-8 aircraft on January 11, 2004. To commence operations, RJ will operate 4 flights per week between Amman and Baghdad, and will gradually increase frequency of flights. · Hawler International Airport Commission, a unit of the Kurdistan Regional Government, hosted the official groundbreaking ceremony on November 4, 2003, for a series of projects that will provide the facilities needed to begin commercial air service in Arbil. · The Port at Umm Qasr was d redged to an average depth of 12.5 meters. Previously, the port was about 9-10 meters deep, and limited cargo could arrive only during high tide. All 21 berths are now open to deep-draft ships. · Khazir, Tikrit, and Al Mat bridges are three spans that are indispensable for transporting commercial and humanitarian goods in Iraq. Work on all three is progressing rapidly: Khazir Bridge will be fully operational by April, work on the Tikrit Bridge is expected to be finished by May, and Al Mat Bridge is expected to be completed this summer.