Program of construction of Vedi reservoir and irrigation system will be completed by middle of 2020

ArmInfo.The construction works of  the Vedi reservoir started in March 2017 and will be completed by  mid-2020. The Head of the State Water Management Committee Arsen  Harutyunyan reported this to the Prime Minister of Armenia Karen  Karapetyan. On July 29, the head of the Armenian government visited  Ararat region of Armenia, where he visited the construction site of  the Vedin reservoir, got acquainted with the design developments.  This was reported by the press service of the Armenian government.

According to the chairman of the State Water Committee Arsen  Harutyunyan, the construction works of the Vedi reservoir started in  March 2017 and will be completed by mid-2020. Initially, the total  capacity of the reservoir, according to him, was planned at the level  of 29 million cubic meters and a water surface of 120 hectares, but  as a result of the work the republic will receive a reservoir with a  water volume of 2.5 million cubic meters more. The sources of water  will be the rivers of the Ararat region - Vedi and Khosrov.

The implementation of the project, as stated by Harutyunyan, will  also be of great importance in restoring the balance of the ecosystem  of Lake Sevan. As a result of the construction of the Vedi reservoir,  the mechanical irrigation of 2,900 hectares of land irrigated by  water companies Vedi and Ararat will be replaced by a gravity system,  which will save about 19 million kWh of electricity, and the area of  irrigated land will increase by 300 hectares. As a result of  reconstruction of the irrigation network and modernization of the  system, water losses, as well as operating and protection costs, will  be reduced. Currently, system losses are estimated in the range of  40-50%. Upon completion of the program, these losses will be reduced  to 15-20%. As a result, the water intake from Lake Sevan for  irrigation will drop to 18 million cubic meters and the fence from  water canal Artashat - on more than 11 million cubic meters. In the  process of implementing the program, as noted by Harutyunyan, 150 new  jobs are to be opened.

The program for the construction of the Vedi Reservoir, which will  soon provide reliable irrigation of 7,500 hectares of land in the  Ararat Valley, will cost about 90 million EUR. 75 million EUR - the  loan of the French Development Agency, 15 million EUR - parallel  financing from the state budget of Armenia.

To recall, the French company ARTELIA EAU & ENVIRONMENT modified the  project and the Belgian SHER Ingenieurs-Conseils together with LLC  "Jrtuk". The construction is carried out by the Armenian company  "Sahakyanshin" (it also rebuilds the Marmarik reservoir, destroyed in  1974, and put into operation in April 2012 - ed.) And the Iranian  consortium Pega Construбtion. 

To note, the construction of the reservoir is of strategic importance  for Armenia. Turkey earlier announced its plans to build large  reservoirs on the Arax, which carries risks for the Armenian side in  the form of a deficit of irrigation water. As Arsen Harutyunyan,  chairman of the State Committee for Water Resources of the Ministry  of Energy Infrastructures and Natural Resources, said earlier,  Armenia cannot completely eliminate such risks. Nevertheless, the  reservoir in Vedi will mitigate the consequences of Turkish water  expansion. "From now on, water in the amount of 29 million cubic  meters, which "senselessly" flowed through the territory of Armenia,  merging into the Araks River, will accumulate in the Vedi Reservoir,"  the head of the State Committee said.  In addition to the  implementation of this project, in 2017 it is planned to complete the  project work for the restoration and completion of the construction  of the Kap Reservoir on the Akhuryan River bordering Turkey. In early  2018, a tender for the construction of the reservoir will be  announced. For this purpose, the credit resources of the German KfW  bank will be sent in the amount of 50 million EUR, provided for a  period of 15 years, the grace period of which is five years. As a  result of the construction of the Kap reservoir, which was suspended  in 1994, it is planned to provide an additional 5,000 hectares of  irrigation.  The work, according to different estimates, will last  about 5 years.

To date, there are about 90 different reservoirs in Armenia and in  the next five years, judging from the government's plans, significant  progress is being made in this area. It is planned to implement two  more programs for the construction of the Yeghvard and Mastara  reservoirs. Funding is mainly provided from loan resources from  international donors such as the Japan International Cooperation  Agency (JICA), the Eurasian Development Bank, the French Development  Agency, the German KFW bank, etc. The total cost of the program,  including the construction and rehabilitation of all four reservoirs,  is $ 350- 400 million