Salah Al-Saadi, the Official Spokesperson for the Man-Made River Authority (MMR), told Libya Herald that the entity has initiated several projects on its Al-Hasawneh – Al-Jafara Plain – Al-Sirir – Al-Qardabiya – Sirte lines, where work had been suspended for the past ten years. These, he added, come within the MMR’s start of implementing its plan to maintain some wells in water fields and valves that have been damaged or sabotaged.
Dozens of valves serviced
Al-Saadi indicated that during the maintenance work on the eastern track of Al-Sarir – Benghazi and Al-Sarir – Sirte, water supply was stopped while the operation and maintenance teams carried out repair work with the mechanical components. These included the maintenance and dismantling of dozens of valves from the chambers, transporting them to the site, carrying out works to remove the old external paint, replacing internal spare parts, as well as cleaning the interior.
Using Libyan labour and contractors
Al-Saadi added that work is underway to resume work in the Ghadames-Zuwara-Al-Zawiya system, which was permanently suspended ten years ago. He said resumption of the project began with local labour and by contracting with private Libyan contracting companies after disbursing the necessary budget for the project, which is approximately 300 km long. The project includes the installation of pipes, valves, ground control rooms, and water pressure monitoring devices.
He pointed out that there are some cities located on this path that have not previously been supplied with the water of the Man-made River, including the Haraba plan, which starts from the Al-Juwaibiya reservoir south of the city of Nalut, which has a capacity of 70,000 cubic meters and reaches a length of 60 kilometres, passing through the areas of Awlad Mahmoud.
And Al-Majabra, Kabao, Tamzin, Tandemira, and Al-Haraba, and the percentage of completion in this line reached 90%.
To raise productivity in 2023 to 200,000 m3/day
With regard to the Al-Hasawneh-Sahl Al-Jafara system, Al-Saadi said that the Man-made River Authority has drawn up a plan to raise productivity for the year 2023 to more than 200,000 cubic meters per day, after the provision of the necessary needs for maintenance work to provide water supply.
He noted the support of the current Tripoli-based government for the MMR and the provision of part of the budgets required to complete projects to supply cities and villages with water.
Security is the guarantor of water supply
Al-Saadi also praised the role of the security services in limiting the repeated attacks on the MMR’s water supply lines.
He said that preserving the components of the man-made river water systems and preventing aggression against them is the real guarantor for the continued flow of water to cities without shortage or interruption.
