ArmInfo. The French Development Agency (AFD) and the Armenian government allocated $ 90 million for the construction of the Vedi reservoir and irrigation systems. AFD has allocated 75 million euros for this purpose, and the government - 15 million euros.
According to the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructures, the volume of the reservoir, which is being built in the Ararat region, is 29 million cubic meters. A 36-kilometer pipeline has already been built, starting from the irrigation canal of the Vedi reservoir, through which water will reach irrigated land with an area of 3220 hectares.
Projects for the reconstruction of an on-farm irrigation network of 4000 hectares have been developed. On the rivers Vedi and Khosrov, water intake nodes were built, a 10.5 km long pipeline was installed. To note, the construction of the Vedi reservoir with a volume of 29 million cubic meters and a water surface of 120 hectares was originally planned to be completed within four years. Sources of water will be the rivers of the Ararat region - Vedi and Khosrov. It is planned to build a dam 85 m high, the length of the irrigation system will be 37 km, as a result of which it will be possible to irrigate territories of about 4 thousand hectares.
As a result of the program, water withdrawal from Lake Sevan will be reduced by 18 million cubic meters. After the operation of the reservoir, 11 pump stations will be shut down, and 3 more partially, the annual savings will be about 1 billion drams or 19 million kWh of electricity. Losses of on-net households will be reduced by 20-25%.
The construction of a reservoir is of strategic importance for Armenia. Turkey previously announced its plans to build large reservoirs on Araks, which carries risks for the Armenian side in the form of a shortage of irrigation water. Armenia cannot completely mitigate such risks. The reservoir in Vedi will mitigate the effects of Turkish water expansion.
