Assiut Barrage - The Planned New Dam

The Planned New Dam

Along with the old Aswan Dam, the Assiut Dam today remains in service as the oldest dam on the Nile in Upper Egypt. The two other old dams (Naga Hamadi and Isna Barrages) were replaced with new dams in the 1990s. Between 2000 and 2005, the Egyptian government commissioned an extended Feasibility Study (FS) financed by the German government to investigate the options of rehabilitation of the existing Assiut Barrage and the Ibrahimiya head regulator against reconstruction of a new barrage with a hydro-power plant. German Consultants financed by the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) conducted the study and concluded that a new dam with power generating capabilities would be the most economic option. This new dam would provide an increase in the allowed head, allowing more water discharges into the Ibrahimiya Canal and will improve navigation conditions. The new dam will also include a low head hydropower plant providing about 40 Megawatts.

The decision taken upon the results of the feasibility study was to proceed with the project of constructing a new barrage 200-300m downstream of the existing barrage. The proposed dam components are:

1. Sluiceway: 8 radial gates, 17m wide
2. Hydropower plant: 4 turbines x 8MW
3. Additional navigation lock: 120 x 17m chamber
4. Closure dam: embankment type, 11m high
5. Rehabilitation of the existing navigation lock; and
6. Rehabilitation of the existing Ibrahimiya head regulator

There is a concern that the new maximum pool level will increase the groundwater levels in Assiut city and in some areas in the upstream. Dealing with this situation, different layouts of the project have been studied in the feasibility study and some mitigation measures have been suggested.