Jordan Times
Tuesday, May 12, 1998
King to open Karameh Dam today
KARAMEH (Petra) — His Majesty King Hussein
will formally inaugurate the Karameh Dam in the Jordan Valley at
a ceremony today.
The JD51 million dam, which has a capacity of 55 million cubic
metres of water, is the second largest in the country after the
King Talal Dam, with an 80 million cubic metre capacity.
According to Mohammad Habashneh, secretary general of the Jordan
Valley Authority, construction of the dam began on March 3, 1994
and was completed in October 1997.
The government financed 45 per cent of the total cost of the
project, while a loan from the Kuwait-based Arab Fund for
Economic and Social Development covered the rest, Mr. Habashneh
said.
The dam, which was built by a consortium of local and foreign
firms, measures 45 metres high and 2,150 metres long and includes
a pumping station to transfer water from the dam's reservoir to
the King Abdullah Canal for crop irrigation in the Jordan Valley,
he added.