Order dispatched after gulf of time
Jun 24 2008 by Andrew Mernin, The Journal
TWO power generators built for Saddam Hussein 18 years ago will finally be shipped to Iraq after gathering dust in a North warehouse.
In 1990 the Iraqi government placed a £70m order with Gosforth-based engineers Northern Engineering Industries (NEI) for four turbine generators.
However, after two of the generators were shipped, the British government froze the transaction as the Gulf War loomed large.
The remaining generators were stored in a warehouse in Newcastle’s East End where they stayed for 18 years – until a surprise phone call earlier this year from the new Iraqi government demanding that the transaction finally be completed.
Two wars and the fall of a dictator after they were first built, the turbines and other equipment will be delivered and used to generate much-needed power at Iraq’s Al Shemal power plant.
Carl Ennis, director of Siemens Power Generation in Newcastle, which now owns the former NEI site where the generators were stored, said: “At the start of the year the Iraqi ministry of energy got in touch to ask if it could have the equipment it had ordered before the first Gulf War.
“Since then we have been in negotiations to secure funding to cover the costs incurred by us having the equipment here for such a long time.”
When the contract was cancelled by the government in 1990, NEI – which was owned by Rolls Royce – was forced to cut 600 jobs.
At the time, the company said it hoped it would break even on the project by selling the generators on to other countries or by reselling them to Iraq when diplomatic relations were restored.
Soon the equipment will set sail on the 3,000-mile journey from North Shields to the Middle East.
Mr Ennis said: “They’ve been on Tyneside for a long time and a lot of it was completely mothballed so won’t be fit for use in Iraq immediately, but the Iraqis are sorting that out.
“From an Iraqi point of view, I think this is excellent news for them.
“They are having trouble with the supply of power in the country and this will help them a great deal.
“From a Siemens point of view, Iraq is still a dangerous place to go and we won’t be sending anyone from here to work on the power station when it reaches Iraq.
“But this is a very positive thing because we are giving something back to Iraq.”
