Merowe Dam on the world famous Nile River in Sudan's Northern province has been inaugurated on 03 March 2009. Located some 450 km north of the capital city Khartoum, Merowe Dam is the longest dam in the world and the second largest dam on the Nile River after the Aswan Dam in Egypt.
With a total span of 9.7 km and a maximum height of 67 mtrs, Merowe is a multi-purpose project designed for power supply and agricultural irrigation. It has a 1.24 billion cubic mtr reservoir that could help more than 4 million local residents living along the Nile. Equipped with 10 generating units, Merowe Dam has a total installed capacity of 1.25 million KW, twice as much as Sudan's existing capacity.
The project has been executed by CCMD JV formed by China Water Resources & Hydropower and China International Water & Electric Corporation. The project has been co-financed by four regional funds, namely the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, Saudi Fund for Development, Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development and Abu Dhabi Fund for Development. The JV kick started the construction on 08 July 2003 and has so far constructed 99 percent of the dam, whose two generators have been put into operation on 23 February.
The project also involves a 1,776 km power line with seven transformer substations, the most of which runs through the desolate northern Sudanese desert.
Source : news.xinhuanet.com
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