Power to the (Iraqi) people!

A consortium of South Korea's industrial heavy hitters has secured a $3.125 billion contract to build twenty-five power plants in Iraq:

The consortium includes major South Korean industrial firms such Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., STX Heavy Industries Co. Ltd, Doosan Heavy Industries and LG, Mussab Al Mudaris said.

The deal, which was signed by Iraqi Electricity Minister Raad Shalal in Baghdad Wednesday, would include installing 25 power plants in various parts of Iraq with total production of 2,500 megawatts, Mr. Mudaris said. The power stations should be up and running by the summer of 2012, he added.

It's a win-win, I suppose, aimed at curbing the rolling brownouts that still occur (?) in that war-ravaged country, while South Korea gets a bit of quid pro quo for sending a fairly large contingent of soldiers (the third largest in the coalition, after the US and the UK) who helped improve infrastructure in the north, mostly out of harm's way (which was the only way South Korea's then-president Roh Moohyun would go along).