SUDAN IRRIGATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19230, 20 January 1926, Page 8

SUDAN IRRIGATION.

With appropriate ceremonial there has been opened a dam over the Blue Nile, which represents another of the great engineering works on the river planned by British engineers. In another sense it represents an enormous process of development in the Sudan. This work has nothing to do with the precious water supply of Egypt, which is already catered for by an elaborate system regulating the flow of the Nile. Its purpose is to conserve for the Sudan the flood waters of the Blue Nile, which otherwise would flow into the sea without benefit to anyone. When the Blue Nile runs high the surplus water is not stopped by any other dam. It runs to waste, and acts as a perpetual menace to cultivation right through the whole river valley down to the delta and beyond. Now, with the great Sennar dam at Makwar completed, it will be stored and used to irrigate a vast area of land south of Khartoum, between the Blue Nile and the White Nile, which join at that town. This district, known as the Gezira, is expected to become one of the world's great cottonfields. At present some 300,000 acres are expected to come into immediate cultivation. • A further 3,000,000 acres are capable of cultivation, and it is believed even they do' not exhaust the possibilities. This scheme is in accord with the policy of reserving the White Nile for the needs of Egypt and devoting the waters of the Blue Nile to the Sudan. It is one more example of what Britain has done for this part of the world, and shows the promise of great things which the Sudan holds.