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A study for the irrigation of 20,000ht of land in
the Tana Basin was delivered by the Tahal Group, a
Netherlands based engineering company, to the
Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) on Monday,
February 1, 2010.
The ministry will invite tenders within the coming
two months for the construction of the irrigation
facilities, Fekahmed Negash, director of the Plan,
Study, and Follow-up Directorate at MoWR, told
Fortune.
This is part of a larger irrigation project to
develop 100,000ht by building dams across five
rivers in the area approved by Nile Basin countries
and supported by a 100 million dollar loan from the
World Bank (WB). It encompasses vast tracts of land
in Nile Basin areas in Amhara, Benishangul-Gumuz and
Oromia regional states.
Construction of the dams is underway across the Reb
and Megech rivers by the Water Works Construction
Enterprise (WWCE) under MoWR, while two more will be
added across the Gumora and Angier rivers.
Tahal’s study includes
details on the various canals that are to be made
and the ground levelling that is to be carried out.
The development of the entire 100,000ht will require
additional water, which will be obtained from wells,
Fekahmed informed Fortune.
The ministry has already invited tenders to dig the
wells attracting six international companies
including Sogrean Consultants, the British
Geological Survey, Schulberg Water Services, Royal
Hegkoning and Egis Bceom, the last of which did not
make any offer, although it had bought the bid
document, Fekahmed said.
When this project gets underway, it will be the
second major irrigation project in the Tana Basin
following the Koga Irrigation Project, which is
being used for the development of 7,000ht.
“These irrigation projects mainly target the farmers
in the area who are living hand to mouth,” Fekahmed
said. “It aims to encourage the farmers to produce
crops for export.”
However, most of the remaining 80,000ht of land is
located in remote areas where there are no farmers,
so investors will be given land there, he said.
The ministry anticipates that a total of 180,000ht
of land could be developed using the water from this
project as well as from the Tana Beles Hydroelectric
Project, which will be inaugurated in a few months.
This will require further agreements with Nile Basin
countries, but the World Bank has already committed
itself to lend 400 million dollars to 500 million
dollars, Fekahmed said. |
