Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Bekir Pakdemirli attended the launch meeting of the "Underground Dams Action Plan" organized to draw attention to the underground dams and share their benefits with the public.
Minister Pakdemirli started his speech by recalling the services provided by the General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works in the last 17 years; "563 dams, 547 HEPPs, 347 ponds and embankments, 1,332 irrigation facilities, including 8 thousand 31 facilities and projects were put into service," he said.
52 THOUSAND 951 HECTARES ARE OPENED FOR IRRIGATION WITH 242 FACILITIES COMPLETED IN 6 MONTHS
Minister Pakdemirli explained the new targets by noting that the Action Plans announced within the scope of the Presidential Government System were also realized during their periods;
"In the first three-month action plan: We opened 10.530 hectares of land for irrigation with 43 completed facilities. We provided 33.915.000 TL of annual agricultural income growth and employment opportunity for 5.023 people. We provided drinking water for 344 thousand people. We protected 73.498 people and 153 hectares of land from floods. We achieved 39.133 hectares of agricultural land consolidation.
In the second three-month action plan: We opened 42,421 hectares of land for irrigation with 199 completed facilities. We provided 365.090.470 TL of annual agricultural income growth and employment opportunity for 43,005 people. We provided drinking water for 2,796,724 people and protected 1,056,556 people from floods.
In the third six-month action plan: We plan to complete 17,911 hectares of land with 32 facilities that we plan to complete and provide 132 million TL of annual agricultural income growth; We aim to provide drinking water for 4 million people and to protect 11,000 people from floods.
WE WILL MAKE SOUTHEASTERN ANATOLIA REGION "FOOD PRODUCTION BASE"
"No Unirrigated Land", "Substantial Solution for Drinking Water Problem of Our Cities", the project of the century for the foster land Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus: "TRNC Water Supply Project", "Giant Movements for Hydroelectric Power", "Flood Protection Facilities", "Wastewater Treatment Plants", "Land Consolidation Success", "Water Supply Project for Africa", "Djibuti Ambouli Friendship Dam", within the scope of the project, "Operation Euphrates Shield" making the Southeastern Anatolia Region a "Food Production Base" with "Çobanbey Al-Bab Drinking Water Tender" and "Southeastern Anatolian Project (GAP)" are among the targets announced by Minister Pakdemirli.
100 UNDERGROUND DAMS TO BE CONSTRUCTED
Recalling that the construction of underground dams, which can be constructed at lower cost than the classical dams built on the ground, started in our country in the 70s and only 10 dams have been built so far," said Minister Pakdemirli. 100 underground dams will be constructed in many cities, especially in "İzmir, Aydın, Mardin, Ankara, Konya, Çankırı, Malatya, Elazığ, Edirne, Tekirdağ, Bartın, Balıkesir," he said.
"Approximately 50 million m³ of water will be stored by 100 projects, if all of this water is allocated for drinking water, 750 thousand people can be provided with drinking water, if all is allocated for irrigation, 80 thousand decares of land can be irrigated and 60 million TL of annual agricultural income growth will be provided," said the Minister.
LOW-COST AND SHORT-TIME CONSTRUCTION: UNDERGROUND DAMS
"We will start to construct environment-friendly underground dams in areas where water, topography and geology are appropriate," said Minister Pakdemirli. "We have started the construction works for underground water basins and dams under 11th Development Plan," he said. He also explained the meaning of the underground dam; "It is an engineering structure that prevents water from flowing from the underground to the sea in our coastal areas as well as preventing salting of fresh water, which enables us to store water behind this structure and use it when needed by constructing a curtain or clay fill up to the bottom of the aquifer where the water is stored." He also added that these structures were both low-cost and short-time constructions.