The villagers also held protests prior to the New Year, but agreed to grant local authorities up until January 2 to resolve the electricity shortage issues.
“As residents of 17 villages in Khalakan, we have submitted our demand [for an increased supply] to party and government officials in our area for over a month, but we have not received any response from them yet,” one of the protesters told Rudaw’s Abubakir Ismael.
Some of the protesters decried that they receive a maximum of five hours of subsidized electricity per day, while others said that they receive as few as three hours. Many of the villages do not have private power generators and only have access to the government-supplied electricity.
Access to the highway is only blocked for cargo trucks, while private vehicles can cross the road freely. The protesters have vowed to continue their demonstrations until their demands are met.
Unreliable electricity is a frequent challenge in the Kurdistan Region.
Kurdistan Region’s electricity ministry generates 3,800 megawatts of electricity, an insufficient amount to sustain 24-hour power. Due to high demand and financial problems means power stations cannot always operate at full capacity.
When the subsidized power supply cuts out, people rely on private diesel-fueled generators that are costly and polluting.
