Huge Projects Under Way To Bring Water To Egyptian Desert
In egypts remote desert near Sudan, a fleet of floating pontoons is drilling, blasting and excavating a canal nearly 50 meters into Lake Nassers rock bed to feed one of the worlds biggest irrigation pumping stations, now being built on the reservoirs west shore. The $390-million job, to be completed in late 2002, will be followed by a $400-million project 130 miles south of Luxor to tap Nile River water.
Work is now 60% finished on housing for the 21-pump Mubarak Pumping Station in a 2-million cu-m dewatered pit. There, two drill barges are blasting rock to form a canal 4.6 kilometers into the lake. "We are still fine-tuning the blasting....We are taking it down in 10-m lifts," says Eddie McEwan, project director with London-based Skanska Cementation International. It leads the Egyptian European Japanese Consortium, which, won the turnkey contract three years ago.