Bekhme Dam

BW

The Bekhme Dam is an unfinished dams construction project in Iraq.

With the construction of the dam was started in the 1980s under Saddam Hussein. It lies on the Great Zab (Greater Zab River ) in the north of Iraq on Kurdish area just below the mouth of the Rowanduz in the Zab. The dam, a rockfill dam should be built by Turkish and Yugoslav companies. He should be 230 m high; according to other sources 204 m. ( Perhaps these are the heights above foundation level and bottom. )

The dam will serve the irrigation, flood protection, water supply and power generation. The plan is a hydroelectric power plant with a capacity of 1536 MW. The storage room should comprise 17 or 33 billion cubic meters according to different sources.

The construction was abandoned after the second Gulf War in 1991 and the previously constructed buildings were destroyed after Saddam's overthrow of the Kurds as a protest against its oppressive policies. Machinery and equipment was sold to Iran. Meanwhile, a further construction is planned under the new name " Al- Faris ".