Aswan Dam Nears Completion

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32214, 5 February 1970, Page 6

Aswan Dam Nears Completion

f.V Z P A -Reuter—Copyright) ASWAN (Egypt). Amid strict precautions against Israeli attack. Egypt’s massive Aswan Dam is nearing completion, 10 years after President Nasser detonated the first dynamite charge on the site. Anti-aircraft guns guard the huge barrier across the River Nile which is revolutionising Egyptian agriculture and village life. It is con-

sidered a tempting target for Israeli raiders. Work on the dam started on January 9, 1960, at a time of comparative peace in the Middle East On the tenth anniversary of the 88572 m project Egypt's power and irrigation system has become a vital factor in a war-time setting. Israeli raiders have twice probed deep into Egyptian territory, attacking points further north along the 500mile power line running from Aswan to Cairo. Not a Target Most diplomatic observers, in Cairo consider the dam. I

whicti would unleash a flood torrent of death through Egypt if ever destroyed, can be written off as a target. They argue that Israel would never elect to go beyond a certain point in the almost daily series of raids and counter raids by Egyptian and Israeli forces.

In spite of attacks like that at the Nagh Hamadi power station on the Nile last year.' which put vita equipment out of action for two months,; the dam and its huge turbines are doing the job for which they were intended. They are taming the waters of the 4000-mile river, direct-

1 ing them as needed, and also t using them to produce power i and light in enormous quan- . titles. I The dam has already transi formed traditional patterns of 1 life virtually unchanged since • the days of he pharaohs. The fierce, muddy-brown flood which used to rush down

the river valley, discharging itself into the Mediterranean, jis now restrained. Instead of one crop O rown from the rich, 'silty waters the flood left behind, there are now several, grown in methodically irrigated fields. Calamities Prevented Lean years, when the flood failed, do not occur any more. i Even while it was being constructed. the dam p.evented three possible natural calamities—the abnormally high 1964 flood, greatest of the cen-. tury, and the two dry years l which followed. A huge reservoir—the biggest man-made lake in the world—is steadily backing up behind the dam’s 350 ft high crest. It will eventually stretch 300 miles south into Sudan. The lake has important byproducts. Its fish yield rose; from 1800 tons in 1968 to about 6500 tons in 1969. supplementing Egypt's limited sources of protein. Power-based projects using the 10 million kilowatt hours a year the dam is expected to produce when completed in July—include a 100.000 tons-a-year aluminium plant, a phosphate processing complex and an 'ron and steel complex. The controlled Nile waters will increase cultivated land by a million and a half acres and enable cultivation of an extra million tons of rice a year for export. These benefits are estimat-, ed to be worth an extra 8481 m to Egypt’s national income. Engineering Problems The dam has not been built, cost. The engineering problems alone were 'enormous. Blocking the Nile was a long and complicated i task. President Nasser threw the I first piece of granite into the i I Nile in January, 1963, after I (completion of the diversion; (channel. Masses of stone were Ithen transported and dumped (into the channel, hundreds of tons at a time, from selfunloading Russian barges. I There were human tragedies and archaeological crises. Scores of men died in accidents on the site. To the south, thousands of Nubians had to be moved from their! old homes on the banks of the (river as Lake Nasser rose, submerging their villages. The river had played a big role in Nubian social customs. Newly-weds had to im-j merse themselves in the Nile, and new-born babies, were blessed by being; sprinkled with Nile water. The lake also threatened the ancient monuments of Abu Simbel, 175 miles south of Aswan. In an impressive demonstration of science aiding art, the huge figures were sawn into blocks and hoisted 60 yards higher to be completely reassembled exactly as before on a new site safe from the water.