With UAE support, Hassan Dam project begins in southern Yemen
In Abyan province, southern Yemen, steps are under way to begin the Hassan Dam project, funded by the United Arab Emirates, as part of a package of important and strategic projects.
The first phase of the project, which will cost about $78 million, was officially handed over to the Canadian company O.M. by SH Consulting Engineering. The completion of the dam will help store 19.5 million cubic meters of water and distribute it to irrigation canals, which will feed about 10,000 hectares of agricultural land in the Abyan Delta.
The opening of the work and its handover to the company was attended by Abyan governor Maj. Gen. Abu Bakr Hussein Salem and Engineer Ahmed Mohammed Al-Zamki, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries for the Irrigation Sector and Chargé d’affaires of the Hassan dam project.
The Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Governor of Abyan both praised the support provided by the brothers in the United Arab Emirates, represented by President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, through the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, which contributes to advancing development in all sectors, including agriculture.
The dam is part of the Khanfar directorate in Abyan province and is funded by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development. It is one of a number of projects that seek to secure sustainable sources of water, revitalize the agricultural sector and achieve food and water security.
At the project site, the governor, the deputy minister of agriculture, and their accompanying delegation received a detailed explanation of the nature of the equipment that preceded the start of the project, which includes the transfer of heavy equipment and the determination of the initial construction work for the project. The equipment will last for about three months, followed by other steps, according to the engineers working at the site.
The project will be executed over a total area of three kilometers for five dams with depth and height of 20.5 meters to accommodate the large amount of rain water that was wasted over many years and was not utilized.
In addition, a 2.5 kilometer dirt barrier and other works will be constructed in the first stage, which will take about three years to complete.
The project was officially approved by the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development in 2008. A Chinese company was contracted to execute the project, but was unable to execute it for various reasons, including the company’s limited capabilities and the security conditions in Abyan and Yemen.
“Work on the project came to a definitive halt in 2014 due to the Houthi war, and in 2022 the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation communicated with and followed the brothers in the United Arab Emirates to resume implementation according to a new vision.”
