Administrator’s Weekly Report

Administrator’s Weekly Report Essential Services 2 – 8 November, 2003 Electricity/Power Objective: Provide Electricity Services that Meet National Needs The Ministry of Electricity (MOE) continues its planned fall maintenance program with plants shutting down units according to a schedule designed to keep peak output above 3,800 MW. Average peak output for the reporting period was 3,829 MW (3,876 MW last week). Eleven units that together produce approximately 600 MW of electricity are currently down for maintenance. Maintenance is scheduled to end in time for winter’s cooler months when demand for electricity in residential heating increases. Problems with fuel supplies and mechanicals breakdowns have had a negative impact on electricity output. MOE is coordinating with the Ministry of Oil to improve the supply of fuel to the power plants. Thirty-seven new power generation units in northern Iraq, primarily in the Mosul area, will provide much needed stable power to ten local industries. Transportation Objective: Restore Economically-Strategic Transportation Infrastructure With the withdrawal of United Nations representatives from Iraq, the UN’s port authentication contractor (COTECNA) has moved its operations to Dubai. As a result, CPA officials now handle verification of OFF shipment arrivals. Approximately 1,500 OFF shipments are expected to pass through the port over the next six months. The Iraqi Republic Railway (IRR) is in active discussions with KBR and Task Force RIO to institute a daily train to carry petroleum products between Turkey and Mosul. The MOT is cleaning and refurbishing the Central Railway Station in Baghdad. The station services daily passenger trains to Basrah and Al Qaim. Service to Mosul has been temporarily discontinued due to security concerns. The cargo carrier UPS will begin providing cargo service to Kirkuk on 22 November. Currently, DHL and FedEx are already providing civilian cargo service to Iraq. The introduction of UPS to the Iraqi market should foster greater competition. Operating conditions are improving at the port of Umm Qasr. Humanitarian cargoes continue to be off loaded and ferries from Dubai continue their regular port calls. The salvage vessel TUZLA, working under a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) contract, is removing sunken vessels. Iraqi customs agents arrived in the port on 10 November to help control immigration, prevent smuggling and collect customs duties. Health Objective: Improve Quality and Access to Health Care A team of pharmacists from DOD arrived this week to help develop a national formulary for Iraq. This comprehensive list of drugs will address the pharmaceutical needs of the Iraqi people and form the baseline for future purchases throughout the country. A CPA/Ministry of Health (MOH) delegation in Amman continues planning for the Oil for Food program transition for pharmaceuticals and medical supplies. As a part of the transition to CPA/MOH management, Amman will be a staging area for the delivery of supplies and equipment into Iraq. A CPA/MOH delegation traveled to Basra to coordinate logistics and management issues with UK counterparts and the Director General for Health in Basra. The emphasis of the meetings was on medical warehousing and status of public health laboratories. There have been three days of peaceful demonstrations at the MoH building in Baghdad this week by workers who were recently laid off because they were illegally hired after the hiring freeze. The demonstrators disbanded after a small group of demonstrators met with the Minister. The MOH has agreed to pay them for days worked and is offering job placement in the Facility Protection Service. The Minister of Health met with a Japanese delegation on 5 November to discuss Iraq’s healthcare system. The Japanese pledged a total of $1.5 billion in direct grants in Madrid, and they plan to send a 10-person clinical team to Baghdad in January. They are committed to refurbishing 13 Japanese-built hospitals. Labor and Social Affairs Objective: Convert Social Services Programs into Economic Development Tools The new employment center in Baghdad found employment for more than 200 workers on its first three days of operation. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MoLSA) has secured funding from UNICEF to complete 27 additional employment centers throughout the country. The MoLSA provided quarterly social welfare benefits payments of $60 to more than 10,000 Iraqis this week. More than 5,000 Iraqis applied and were vetted for social welfare benefits. The Korean Government has allocated an additional $2 million ($7 million total now) for the establishment of a vocational training center in Baghdad. Telecommunications Objective: Reconstruct Telecommunications System and Introduce Advanced Technologies Iraq Telecommunications and Posts Company (ITPC) has successfully obtained fuel for the Mamoon and Sinek telephone switches. The Ministry of Communications (MOC) is working with the ITPC to establish a fuel program at all sites. ITPC has been unable to provide personnel to complete cabling efforts between the new switches, main distribution frame, and subscriber lines. Lucent continues to augment this effort, but the lack of cabling progress will have an impact on completion dates. A joint effort between the U.S. Army and the MOC is improving security at most telephone exchanges. The US Army will transfer more than 60 FPS guards to the ITPC in the coming week. These guards are trained, badged, and uniformed. Formulation of language, terms and conditions for the respective licenses for the three selected regional mobile phone vendors is nearing completion. Education Objective: Improve Quality and Access to Education Education Minister Dr. Ala’din Alwan met with UNICEF, UNESCO, World Bank, WFO, WHO and USAID representatives in Jordan to discuss the Ministry of Education’s priorities and to rationalize the different data sets these organizations have produced on Iraq’s education system. The following figures will be used as the basis for situational analysis and donor country coordination: primary and secondary students 5,917,856 primary and secondary teachers 292,304 school buildings 14,924 school sessions* 18,628 schools in need of demolition or rebuilding 1,343 9% of all schools schools in need of major rehabilitation 5,970 40% of all schools schools damaged in some way 11,939 80% of all schools *Some schools have two or three sessions a day. The UN Humanitarian Information Centre has taken the available data on schools from UNESCO and USAID and built a web-delivered map showing color-coded repair requirements for secondary schools. The Ministry of Education will post the map on its web site when similar data (and mapping) for primary schools is available. Master teacher training for over 200 teachers, principals and supervisors based in Baghdad began on 8 November on a special Ramadan schedule. The program will cover eight half days and will focus on classroom observation and evaluation techniques for supervisors and administrators. Higher Education Objective: Improve Quality and Access to Higher Education The CPA, the Ministry of Higher Education and representatives from Iraq’s universities have begun discussions on the future organization of the country’s higher education system. The discussions center on evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of Iraq’s 20 universities in order to determine where human and financial resources are most needed. Two universities in the Czech Republic are offering eight scholarships to Iraqi students for the spring semester 2004. The Iraqi American Society for Higher Education was launched with the strong support and assistance of CPA and Ministry of Higher Education. The association is composed of Iraqi-American university professors interested in teaching and hosting conferences in Iraq. DATE \@ "M/d/yyyy" 4/21/2004 PAGE 1