After reviewing the commissioning of the first section of the Valvalachay-Takhtakorpu canal, President Ilham Aliyev has visited the construction site of the Takhtakorpu Water Reservoir and a hydro power station.
It was indicated that this hydro-technical facility, the foundation-laying ceremony of which was attended by the head of state in 2007, is evidence of the modern and sophisticated nature of the projects implemented in Azerbaijan. It was noted that the dam will be 1,180 meters long and 142.5 meters high. Covering an area up to of 8.7 square kilometers, the capacity of the water reservoir is 268.4 million cubic meters, while active storage capacity is 218.9 million cubic meters. It was stressed that land reclamation activities have already reached a height of 97 meters on the Takhtakorpu Water Reservoir dam. Earthwork of 18 million cubic meters of the 24 million cubic meters planned has been completed on the body of the dam.
It was indicated that the implementation of the project on the reconstruction of the Samur-Absheron irrigation system will improve the provision of Baku, Sumgayit and residential settlements of the Absheron Peninsula with drinking water by enabling supply of 18 cubic meters of water a second and play an important part in the environmental balance in the north of the country. As a result of eliminating the Sitalchay and Jeyranbatan pump stations and enabling natural flow of water into the Jeyranbatan water reservoir, a total of 167 million kilowatt-hour of electricity and 15 million manats will be saved. Besides, the project will help improve water supply to 150,000 hectares of land in the north of Azerbaijan. The objective has been set to take water from northern rivers and engage new lands of 30,000 hectares under crop.
When President Ilham Aliyev was reviewing the tunnel section of the dam, he was informed that the installation of open-ended water discharge and water intake facilities, an energy tunnel, construction of a hydro power station and three turbines with a total capacity of 25 megawatts was envisaged. The construction of the tunnel entry and exit headings and earthwork in the energy tunnel have been completed, while concreting and construction operations on the emergency water discharge facility and the hydro power station is still ongoing. Construction work is scheduled for completion in the first half of 2013.
Then the head of state examined progress in the construction of the Takhtakorpu-Jeyranbatan canal. It was indicated that the objective of the canal is to eliminate the existing pump stations and enable natural flow of 40 cubic meters of water a second into the Jeyranbatan Water Reservoir. The total length of this concrete-coated hydro-technical facility is 110 kilometers and 330 meters. The canal is 2 meters wide at the bottom and 4 meters deep. There is a complex network of 10 culverts, two aqueducts, one tunnel, 50 bridges, 231 flood-water units and one water discharge installation. Over 20 million cubic meters of earthwork, 6 million cubic meters of land reclamation and up to 393,000 cubic meters of concreting work are envisaged during construction.
It was mentioned that a 37-km section of the 87-km open canal has been concreted, while the construction of nine out of 10 culverts with a total length of 9.2 kilometers and one aqueduct has been completed. Concreting work is currently under way in the completed tunnel. So far, a 9.6-km section of the 12.1-km closed part of the canal has been built. Construction of other hydro-technical facilities on the canal is currently under way and is also scheduled for completion in the first half of 2013.
After examining progress in the execution of the “Reconstruction of the Samur-Absheron irrigation system” project, President Ilham Aliyev gave instructions and wished ameliorators and construction workers further success.
