Bechme dam
| Bechme dam | |||||
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| Coordinates | 36 ° 42 ′ 21 ″ N , 44 ° 16 ′ 25 ″ E | ||||
| Data on the structure | |||||
| Construction time: | under construction / planned | ||||
| Height above valley floor: | 204 m (?) | ||||
| Height above foundation level : | 230 m (?) | ||||
| Building volume: | 34 million m³ | ||||
| Crown length: | 600 m | ||||
| Power plant output: | 1536 MW | ||||
| Data on the reservoir | |||||
| Water surface | 56 km² | ||||
| Storage space | 17,000 or 33,000 million m³ | ||||
The Bekhme Dam is an unfinished dam construction project in the autonomous region of Kurdistan in Iraq .
The construction of the dam began in the 1980s under Saddam Hussein . It is located on the Great Zab (Greater Zab River) in northern Iraq on Kurdish territory just below the confluence of the Rowanduz into the Zab. The dam , a rock embankment dam, was to be built by Turkish and Yugoslav companies. It should be 230 m high; according to other information 204 m. (Possibly these are the heights above the foundation level and above the valley floor.)
The dam is to be used for irrigation, flood protection, water supply and electricity generation. A hydropower plant with a capacity of 1536 MW is planned. According to various sources, the storage space should comprise 17 or 33 billion cubic meters.
The construction was given up in 1991 after the second Gulf War and the structures built up to now were destroyed by the Kurds after Saddam's fall as a protest against his policy of oppression. Machinery and equipment was sold to Iran. Further construction under the new name "Al-Faris" is now planned.
See also
- List of the largest dams on earth
- List of the largest reservoirs on earth
- List of the largest hydroelectric plants in the world
- List of dams in the world
Web links
- BEKHME Iraq (PDF file; 74 kB)
- Annex 1: Major Dams and Barrages in the Tigris - Euphrates Basin (PDF file; 1.10 MB)