Challenges of the Aswan Dam Project
ASWAN Dam Project
1843 - A barrage sponsored and completed by the Albanian founder of modern Egypt, Mohammed Ali, was built.
1882-1890 British engineers helped implement the dam project and began working on the original dam of Aswan. The "low" dam.
1905 – Dam was completed
Reconstructed in 1912 and 1933 it was still deemed to be inefficient due to the threats of severe Nile flooding and a second dam was seen as necessary
1948 - Adrien Daninas of Egypt proposed the "high" Aswan dam
Financial issues: * The estimated costs were near $1 billion, and it would require outside funding * World Bank were unable to finance the amount. * Because of Arab-Israeli relations, the United States and Great Britain refused to fund the project. * Egyptian government was forced to negotiate the construction and financing of the dam with the Russians
1956 - the Soviet Foreign Minister, Shepilov, offered $400 million of Soviet aid toward the
Project.
Three additional years of negotiation occurred until in September of 1959 a contractual agreement between the Soviets and Egypt was formed. Russia agreed to fund the proposal, on the condition that as a major contributor they also be involved in the decision making on the dam.
Egypt allowed the Russian government considerable input on the dam construction. As a result of the Russian input and their desire to keep the plan as simplified and as low cost as possible, potential impacts of the dam were left unnoticed.
Lake Nasser backs up the Nile 200 miles (320 km) into Egypt and almost 100 miles (160km) farther upstream (south) in the Sudan. The enormous lake is 500 kilometers long, approximately 22 kilometers wide and 90 meters deep. The breaking of the ground took place in 1960, and the Nile River was first redirected in 1964.
At Aswan, the complex underlying ideas were essentially the same: Irrigate the land to provide additional crops to support the population, demonstrate the ruling authorities ability
1843 - A barrage sponsored and completed by the Albanian founder of modern Egypt, Mohammed Ali, was built.
1882-1890 British engineers helped implement the dam project and began working on the original dam of Aswan. The "low" dam.
1905 – Dam was completed
Reconstructed in 1912 and 1933 it was still deemed to be inefficient due to the threats of severe Nile flooding and a second dam was seen as necessary
1948 - Adrien Daninas of Egypt proposed the "high" Aswan dam
Financial issues: * The estimated costs were near $1 billion, and it would require outside funding * World Bank were unable to finance the amount. * Because of Arab-Israeli relations, the United States and Great Britain refused to fund the project. * Egyptian government was forced to negotiate the construction and financing of the dam with the Russians
1956 - the Soviet Foreign Minister, Shepilov, offered $400 million of Soviet aid toward the
Project.
Three additional years of negotiation occurred until in September of 1959 a contractual agreement between the Soviets and Egypt was formed. Russia agreed to fund the proposal, on the condition that as a major contributor they also be involved in the decision making on the dam.
Egypt allowed the Russian government considerable input on the dam construction. As a result of the Russian input and their desire to keep the plan as simplified and as low cost as possible, potential impacts of the dam were left unnoticed.
Lake Nasser backs up the Nile 200 miles (320 km) into Egypt and almost 100 miles (160km) farther upstream (south) in the Sudan. The enormous lake is 500 kilometers long, approximately 22 kilometers wide and 90 meters deep. The breaking of the ground took place in 1960, and the Nile River was first redirected in 1964.
At Aswan, the complex underlying ideas were essentially the same: Irrigate the land to provide additional crops to support the population, demonstrate the ruling authorities ability