Cornerstone laid for Kirkuk dam

KIRKUK / IraqiNews.com: A cornerstone has been laid for Khassa Jay Dam in Kirkuk to overcome water shortage in the province, the Iraqi minister of water resources said on Monday. “The dam is 2,160 meters in length and 60 meters in height. Its storage capacity is 40 billion cubic meters,” Minister Abdullateef Jamal Rasheed told IraqiNews.com news agency. The total cost of the project is 84.962 billion Iraqi dinars and its estimated completion period is 40 months, the minister pointed out. Over two weeks ago, the Ministry of Water Resources said it had signed a contract with a Turkish firm to build the dam, located near Kajk village across Khassa Jay River (10 northeast of Kirkuk). The ministry explained that the dam would ensure the continuous flow of water through Khassa Jay River during all seasons and the irrigation of 3,000 donums (1 donum= 2,500 square meters) of land in Taza area. Kirkuk, an oil-rich and mixed city of Kurds, Turkmen, Christians and Arabs, lies 250 km northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. SS (P) 1