Two water projects were inaugurated in Ilam and Kermanshah provinces in western Iran on Thursday.
Konjancham Dam in Mehran County, Ilam Province, was launched to help irrigate 2,750 hectares of farmlands in the region.
With a capacity of 85 million cubic meters of water, the dam has been completed at a cost of $20 million, IRNA reported.
The most important purpose of constructing the dam is to store water in the winter to be used later in the agricultural sector and prevent water outflow from the western borders, the deputy director of Iran's Water Resources Management Company said.
Mohammad Hajrasouliha added that it is part of a tropical megaproject underway in the region.
“The project, which started in Ilam and Kermanshah provinces eight years ago, has registered 85% progress and cost $350 million so far,” he was quoted as saying by IRNA.
On Thursday, 4,050 hectares of drainage and irrigation networks of the megaproject in the border city of Sarpol-e Zahab were inaugurated.
For this segment of the project, over 800 km of water transmission lines were laid and 12 pumping stations were constructed.
The megaproject covers 53,000 hectares, of which 34,400 hectares are in Kermanshah and 18,600 hectares are in Ilam.
Agriculture is the key to sustainable development in Kermanshah. There are more than 950,000 hectares in the border province that annually produces 4.5 million tons of agricultural, horticultural, livestock, fisheries and aquatic products.
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.
It also produces 182,000 tons of animal products, including red meat, chicken, fish, eggs and milk a year.
Unfinished Dams
Chenareh, Sikan, Meymeh and Vargar are among the 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 project in Ilam on hold. Ten years have passed since construction began, but it 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. Again the Energy Ministry is responsible, as it has not yet purchased agricultural and residential lands for the relocation of the rural folks.
The representative of Ilam in parliament has said that the ministry will allocate $6.6 million to the project in the new Iranian year (started March 2021).
Behzad Alizadeh added that Sikan Dam will help supply potable water to parts of the province and to farmlands near the dam that will hold 12 mcm of water and feed 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 with less than 10% progress.
Similar to other projects, the problem is lack of funds. As a result, workers involved in the construction process, who have not been paid for a year, have downed their tools.
As there is no industrial activity in Abdanan and it is largely an agro-based economy, 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. Construction started in 2010 but progress is at a snail’s pace. The dam should store 80 mcm and irrigate 4,000 hectares of agricultural land.
The Energy Ministry often talks about the great strides it has made in facilitating access to sustainable water sources, but many regions are grappling with chronic water shortages as poor rains, climate change, rising temperatures and drought have taken a heavy toll.
While problems related to Ilam’s water issues and other water-deficit regions have piled up for years, new challenges have emerged. This implies that the Energy Ministry needs to take strong measures to deliver.
