By Kadhim Ajrash and Nayla Razzouk
Iraq plans next week to sign power- plant contracts valued at $6.25 billion with Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) and other companies, in its biggest effort to boost electricity output since the ouster of Saddam Hussein’s regime in 2003.
Caterpillar, Man SE (MAN) of Germany and at least one South Korean company will build 50 new power stations, each capable of generating 100 megawatts, Electricity Minister Raad Shallal said today. “The new power plants are expected to be operational in the summer of 2012,” he told reporters in Baghdad.