CAIRO - By the end of next year, Egypt will start building a steel wall around the Aswan High Dam, the country's most important facility. The wall will both strengthen the dam and protect it from the threat that could be posed by explosives and other materials, a local independent newspaper reported Wednesday. "The High Dam Authority will start constructing a fortified steel wall, which is expected to cost LE40 million [about $7 million] by the end of 2011," Al-Shorouq newspaper quoted an unnamed source in the Ministry of Irrigation as saying. "This barrier will not affect the operation of the dam, as it will be built just in front of the turbines," the source told the paper. The official did not give further details about this project to protect the dam and the reasons for building the wall. The Aswan High Dam was completed in 1970 under the late Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser. This mega project allows for the storage of large quantities of water and the generation of electricity. It also facilitates the flow of the River Nile. The Aswan High Dam is 3.83km long, 980m wide at the base, 40m wide at the crest and 111m tall. It contains 43 million cubic metres of water.
