The construction of Konjancham Dam in Mehran County, Ilam Province, has registered 85% progress and the budget to complete the project will be allocated soon, Ali Akbar Mehrabian, the new energy minister, said.
“A part of the project remained incomplete since the past few years due to financial problems. However, with the order of President Ebrahim Raeisi, the required fund will be provided so that it can be completed in the near future,” the minister was quoted as saying by Energy Today website.
The dam in the western province has a reserve capacity of 85 million cubic meters. So far, $15 million have been invested on its construction and an additional $5 million are needed to complete the project.
The most important purpose of building the dam is to store water in winter to be used later in the agricultural sector and prevent water outflow from the western borders. It will help irrigate 2,750 hectares of farmlands in the region.
Dams are the main source of supplying safe drinking water for 600,000 people in Ilam. In addition to Konjancham, the province has three other dams.
Ilam has the capacity to annually produce over 660,000 tons of food, including wheat, barley, corn, sugarbeet, grapes, peach, lemon, olive and walnut.
The province also produces 182,000 tons of animal products, including red meat, chicken, fish, eggs and milk a year.
More Dams Under Construction
Several other dam projects are also underway in Ilam to help collect water during the rainy season to be used later in the warmer seasons. However, their construction has either been halted or their progress is slow, all due to financial constraints.
Chenareh, Sikan, Meymeh and Vargar are among dam projects that were supposed to be constructed in Ilam, but they have witnessed little progress.
Almost 25 years ago, Chenareh Dam in Chardavol County was expected to supply water for drinking, industrial and agricultural use, but nothing has happened since then.
Recently, the deputy governor for civil affairs said the dam’s construction would start early next year.
“Chenareh Dam will be built on a namesake river between Ilam and Kermanshah provinces, 24 km from Eslamabad-e-Gharb City,” Ahmad Karami added.
The structure is designed to hold 6 million cubic meters of water.
Sikan Dam in Darreh-Shahr County is another construction project that has made less than 30% physical progress.
One of the main reasons for the constant delays is lack of funding from the Energy Ministry. Besides financial constraints, the project faces another major problem. The people of Farhadabad Village in the vicinity of the dam have not been relocated. The Energy Ministry is responsible, as it has not yet purchased agricultural and residential lands for the relocation of the rural residents.
The representative of Ilam in parliament has said that the ministry will allocate $6.6 million to the project next year.
Behzad Alizadeh added that Sikan Dam will help supply potable water to parts of the province and farmlands near the dam that will hold 12 mcm of water and irrigate 4,600 hectares of farms.
Vargar Dam in Abdanan County is another important project in Ilam Province, the construction of which started in 2014. Six years on, work has stopped after less than 10% progress.
Similar to other projects, the problem is lack of funds. As there is no industrial activity in Abdanan and it is largely an agro-based economy, the construction of Vergar Dam was planned to help lift the rural farming community and irrigate 2,000 hectares.
Meymeh Dam in Dehloran County is another incomplete project in the western province. Its construction started in 2010 but has made little progress. The dam should store 80 mcm and irrigate 4,000 hectares of agricultural land.
