Former Napocor employees eyed for Iraq reconstruction

The Department of Energy (DOE) is pushing for the participation of former National Power Corp. (Napocor) employees in the ongoing reconstruction of Iraq.

"Napocor president Roger Murga is now working out a deal to send retired and separated Napocor electrical engineers to Iraq," Energy Secretary Vincent S. Perez said.

The Napocor chief was a former official of local construction giant EEI Corp., which has ties US firm Bechtel – the lead contractor in the Iraq reconstruction.

"As you already know, there are about 1,800 employees who lost their jobs because of the power firm’s reorganization," Perez said.

He added the Napocor president has written Bechtel to give preferential treatment to ex-Napocor employees in reconstruction project in Iraq.

"We are ready to send as many as they want. We just want them to give priority to ex-Napocor employees," he stressed.

Napocor completed its organizational overhaul last March. It has now about 8,500 permanent employees and another 1,500 non-plantilla personnel. Of these, about 3,700 personnel have been detailed to its spin-off transmission company, the National Transmission Corp. (Transco).