Baghdad Minister of Water Resources, Mahdi Rashid Al-Hamdani, announced that Iraq will soon implement the strategic Makhoul Dam, which will achieve the country’s water balance, pointing to the importance of help by the Turkish side in implementing this dam, after which Iraq will not need to build any other large dam.
Al-Hamdani added, according to the Rudaw Kurdish media network, after his return from Turkey: “We achieved many understandings with the Turkish side during our visit to Ankara at the invitation of the Special Envoy of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for water affairs with Iraq, Faisal Aroglu, where we discussed the protocol of cooperation on the Tigris River, which we sent to the Turkish side, and discussed the memorandum of understanding signed in 2014, which obtained the approval of the Turkish Parliament, and an agreement to start establishing the joint research center on the Tigris River, which will be established soon in Baghdad.
Al-Hamdani stressed, “The importance of this center at the level of the Middle East for the exchange of studies and experiences and the implementation of narrative projects,” calling on Syria and Iran to join this center.
The Minister of Water Resources added that “Iraq expressed its strong reservations about the construction of the Turkish Al-Jazra Dam, which will cause water scarcity in Iraq,” pointing to “the high understanding of the Turkish President’s special envoy,” adding that “the results were fruitful and in favor of the irrigation projects in Iraq.”
Al-Hamdani expressed his thanks for Turkey’s support to Iraq during the water scarcity crisis, as it released batches of its water reservoir into the Tigris River, adding that Iraq “invited the special envoy of the Turkish President to visit Iraq in the middle of next month, to see the dams and irrigation projects implemented and the ministry’s achievements in this field and the use of Modern water technologies to prevent waste of water after ISIS had destroyed many irrigation projects.
Al-Hamdani added, “the Turkish side will have a role in implementing the strategic Makhoul Dam and benefiting from its technical expertise in this field.”
In response to a question about the water quotas allocated to the Kurdistan region, he said: “There is no amount of water allocated to the Kurdistan region, and each governorate in the region takes its allocated share according to the agricultural area, its area and its need, and water crosses the borders and cannot be controlled.
Source: National Iraqi News Agency