Great Hydro-Electric Scheme

Manawatu Times, Volume LVI, Issue 6519, 7 April 1931, Page 8

Great Hydro-Electric Scheme

POWER FROM JORDAN INDUSTRY IN BIBLE TIMES During the present year the countries along the eastern coasts of the Mediterranean will reach the first stage on the road to economic independence, says a correspondent of the New York Herald Tribune. Tho utilisation of tho waterpower of the region for the production of electricity/ a development of tho last three years which will make industry free from the importation of coal and oil, will have progressed noticeably. In Palestine the first hydro-electric plant, which is eight or nine miles south of the Sea of Galileo, is almost completed and soon will be in operation, it is financed partly by American capital, and its 32,000 h.p. will suffice for the entire initial requirements of the country. This, however, is only the first part of the Rutenbcrg plan, which aims at developing 300,000 h.p.—half of what Norway generates from all its many waterfalls —from the water supply of Palestine. When the scheme begins to work, tho local cost of current for industrial and farming purposes wall be halved, while for domestic purposes it will be reduced by about 60 per cent. The Jordan power station may also play an important part in providing power for tho Palestine Potash Company, which is being heavily supported by American capital and has begun its exploitation of the Dead Sea. Jordan to Produce Power.

Beginning next year, all tho towns and villages of the Holy Land —Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Nazareth, Tiberias, Sheehem, Beersheba and tho others with familiar names—will receive the power for their material development from the ancient Jordan. The only exceptions are Jerusalem, Bethlehem and the surrounding district, for which a British firm holds a concession. This firm has built a special generating plant at the Jerusalem railway station. In the Lebanon Republic and Syria, the mountains of Lebanon and antiLebanon are also being made as useful as the Biblical river in the interests of modern economic development. A preliminary survey of its waterpower has shown that in Lebanon 51,000 h.p., and in Syria 9000 h.p. arc available. Oil this the Litani, the ancient Leontcs, can itself supply 20,000 h.p. It is proposed that a network of hightension cables, supplied by more than a dozen stations, bring tho necessary power to Tyre, Sidon, Beyrout, Damascus, Tripoli, Lattaquieh, Homs, Hama, Antiocbia, Aleppo, Alexandretta, and the irrigation works over the greater part of the plains between the towns. The establishment of a station at the Kadisha Falls for the development of the first SOOO h.p. of this plan has been undertaken by a company financed entirely by Lebanese capital and directed by the former Minister of Public Works Canal Hewn in Rock. A canal over a thousand yards long, half of it hewn as a tunnel through the solid rock, follows the ancient canal of Zcnobia in bringing the water to the turbines. The work will be completed, as will the small statio: of Abu Aly, in the first half of the year, and 20 per cent, of the potential power of the Lebanon will then be freed for industry and farming. The tramways company of Beyrout wishes to gain 25,000 h.p. for tho use of the capital in a station at the Safa, south-east of the city. Iu Syria, where 2500 h.p. is already at the service of Damascus and supplied by the Figch, the same company has begun to harness the Orontcs in the region of Homs and Hama, to an extent of 300 h.p. The water will bo diverted through a canal to a reservoir, which there will be a fall of about 160 feet to the turbines. Irrigation stations, the illumination of both neighboring towns and the beginnings of industry in the region will all find their source of power here. But the most stupendous plan for tho utilisation of hydraulic power—a plan that amounts to tho creation of a water supply to be converted into power—is suggested in Egypt. It is proposed that an artificial sea be made in the desert, with a giant barrage, in order to supply the whole of lower Egypt, with power, not only for the present, but also for future generations. Important Discovery.

The plan follows a discovery made by Dr. John Ball, chief of the Desert Survey Department. Two years ago Dr. Ball found that over 100 miles east of Cairo and over three miles south of the Mediterranean, there is a huge stretch of land below sea level, comprising almost one and a half times as much as the entire cultivated area of the Nile delta. The depression is so gradual that it cannot be seen, and can only be detected by exact measurements. The chief difficulty of the project lies in its cost. The canals would have to be tunnelled the greater part of the way, and would have to be lined with concrete on account of the softness of the rocks for the whole of their length. The preparatory work is so far advanced that the government can now make an estimate of the cost, but further work has been suspended pending the completion of this estimate.