Naga Hammadi's new dyke opens this week. Reem Leila reports on the benefits With an investment of nearly 200 million euros, a new dam on the River Nile has been constructed at Naga Hammadi, Qena, in Upper Egypt. The dam will not only increase the area of cultivatable land in Naga Hammadi to nearly 750,000 feddans but will also include a hydroelectric power plant with four turbines integrated in the dyke. The project's main financiers are the German Bank for Reconstruction and Development (GBRD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB). The role of the 320-metre-long concrete dam, which replaces one built in the early 20th century, is mainly to regulate the river's water level as well as facilitate agriculture year-round along the fertile banks and to supply electricity to the national network in Upper Egypt. The dam is to provide rural inhabitants of the area with new irrigation, drainage and wastewater systems in addition to increasing the area of cultivated land. The structure, on which work began in 2002, is one of the tallest constructions in the country and will employ at least 3,000 labourers. According to Hussein El-Atfi, official spokesman at the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI), the structure is considered another High Dam and is of equal importance to that of Aswan's famed dam. The total cost of the project has reached LE1.4 billion -- the 200 million euros from the GBRD, plus a donation from the EIB, in addition to LE520 million. The new dam consists of four 64 megawatt turbines, generating sufficient electricity to support an estimated 200,000 families. With demand for more electricity in Egypt growing by about seven per cent each year, "the addition of this renewable source of hydropower is urgently needed," revealed El-Atfi. The accumulation of water behind the new dam, as Mohamed Abdel-Aal, the project manager, believes, "will bring the total of irrigated land in the area to roughly 750,000 feddans, which involves about 300,000 farmers. With their families, this means that at least two million people will benefit from the project." According to Abdel-Aal, the dam was at first resisted by farmers and fishermen working around the old dam, concerned they would lose their income if the water level there lowered. "But the revelations of benefits in the form of revamped irrigation systems, sewage treatment plants and the prospect of work on the construction site itself persuaded the inhabitants who supported the proposal after they were told about the advantages," Abdel-Aal said. Local groups were organised at village level to help maintain the new waterways, and farmers took ownership for the irrigation of their own fields. "A total of 18 villages have been connected to the new sewage treatment system; as with everything else, the end users are involved in their continued smooth running," Abdel-Aal added. Naga Hammadi's old dam was built in 1930, thus providing water that was used to feed two long irrigation canals, one on either side of the river, running all the way to the next dam in Assiut, some 200 kilometres downstream. The issue of resettlement was laid to rest during the planning stage. Those required to move were given the option of a new home at an agreed site or a financial compensation package. A key condition of the project was that all residents were to be properly re-housed before the bulldozers moved in. Abdel-Aal says that a total of LE18.9 million was paid out as compensation, and all those requiring new houses appear to have been happily resettled. Adds Abdel-Aal, the new homes are "better than their old ones". The success of the Naga Hammadi dam, according to El-Atfi, is due to the project's conformity to international standards and the Egyptian-based Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), the key element of which was a public debate prior to project commencement. "The Naga Hammadi dam is one of the models for EIA implementation," El-Atfi said. The importance of consultation prior to the beginning of construction is highlighted by El-Atfi due to the current controversy taking place over the E Agrium fertiliser plant in Damietta on the eastern north coast. The project has been temporarily halted because of chemical pollution fears while residents, politicians and lawyers argue about the choice of site, which is just few kilometres away from the sea- side tourist destination of Ras Al-Barr. In addition to Naga Hammadi, the responsible firm is engaged in planning the world's largest pump station. The pump station is on top of the government's ambitious plans to irrigate large areas of desert in Al-Wadi Al-Gadid, west of the Nile Valley. But for the local population, it is the improvements in the agricultural field that matter most.
