Istanbul, March 18: Libya shed light on Wednesday on a USD 33-billion scheme, contested by some as mad or wasteful, to extract water from deep beneath the Sahara and pipe it across the desert to its coastal cities.
For the first time in a major international forum, Libyan
officials gave a presentation of the "Great Man-Made River
Project," a scheme that dwarfs all for ambition and cost, and
defended it against charges of environmental vandalism and
water theft.
The scheme, already some two-thirds complete, is
economically viable and should not stoke any conflict with
Libya`s neighbours, said Fawzi al-Sharief Saeid, director of
the project`s technical centre for groundwater management.
He put the total bill at USD 33.69 billion in capital
investment and running costs over 50 years.
"Studies have shown that the Great Man-Made River Project
is more economical than other alternatives," being some nine
to 11 times better value for money compared with desalination
plants or water imported from Europe, he said.
At predicted extraction rates, "recoverable reserves
would last for 4,860 years" for Libya, Sudan, Chad and Egypt,
he said.
Despite its name, the project is not a river with banks.
Instead, it entails a network of 4,000 kilometres of
pipes, which take water, from an ancient desert aquifer, to
the northern coastal strip, where most of the country`s 5.76
million people live.
Bureau Report
