The construction of Chamshir Dam and the adjacent hydroelectric power plant in Gachsaran County, Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad Province, has registered 94% progress and will be launched by the end of the current Iranian year (March 2023), director of the project said.
“The project is the largest roller-compacted concrete dam in the Middle East and one of the largest hydropower plants built in recent years in Iran,” Mehr News Agency also quoted Mahmoud Mahzarnia as saying.
Roller-compacted concrete has time and cost benefits over conventional mass concrete dams, as the former includes lower material costs and smaller costs associated with post-cooling and formwork.
RCC is a special blend of concrete that has essentially the same ingredients as conventional concrete but in different ratios, and increasingly with the partial substitution of fly ash with Portland cement. RCC is a mix of cement/fly ash, water, sand, aggregate and common additives, but contains much less water. The produced mix is drier and essentially has no slump.
Mahzarnia said the dam can hold 2.3 billion cubic meters of water, while the adjacent hydroelectric power plant has three units with a total generation capacity of 176 megawatts.
Chamshir power plant and dam is being built 25 km southeast of Dogonbadan City on the Zohreh River.
The dam will supply water to drinking, agricultural and industrial sectors. Its water will irrigate 140,000 hectares of agricultural lands in Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad, Khuzestan and Bushehr provinces.
In addition, the hydropower plant can produce 482 gigawatt hours of hydroelectric power per year.
Recently, there have been criticisms about the likely environmental fallout from the construction of Chamshir Dam.
“Our country is located in an arid and semi-arid region, so it is better to collect water. Each project may have its own pros and cons. However, considering that the construction license was issued by the related authorities years ago, the plan’s benefits are more than any likely disadvantages,” he said.
In related news, Khabar Online reported that the permit for the dam’s first water intake has been issued.
According to the recent announcement by the Department of Environment in Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad, Chamshir Dam will not cause any environmental problems and rumors in this regard have no scientific basis.
Developing Agritourism
Creating jobs, developing the infrastructure of tourism industry and promoting fish farming are among other important advantages of the dam, which can also help control any flooding in the region.
The first-ever agritourism farm, with an area of 17 hectares, was inaugurated in the southwestern province last year.
Agriculture tourism is intended to generate income for indigenous communities and promote rural development.
Agritourism is a relatively new branch of the travel industry in which tourists stay with local people in rural areas and take part in farm/ranch recreational activities conducted on private agricultural lands, which might include fishing, overnight stays and handicraft classes.
Experts believe that in addition to customer service jobs, agritourism pays special attention to the production sector, saying agricultural tourism is much more important and practical than other branches of tourism because it creates a new chain and diversity in the field of production and services.
Agritourism and nature-tourism enterprises might include outdoor recreation (fishing, hunting, wildlife study, horseback riding), educational experiences (cannery tours, cooking classes), entertainment (harvest festival), hospitality services (guided tours and outfitter services) and on-farm direct sales (u-pick operations or roadside stands).
