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61
GMR
28
11
Groundwater
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TUNISIA
Tripoli
Benghazi
Tobruk
Sirte
Ajdabiya
EGYPT
Ghadames
Jaghboub
LIBYA
Sarir wellfield
East Jabal Hassouna wellfield
Tazerbo
ALGERIA
Kufra
Phase IV
Phase III
NIGER
Phase I
Phase II
Reservoir
CHAD
SUDAN
68
106
250
60
600
479
1,400
47
500
14
14
126
1,000
Tazerbo wellfield
108
1,000
Kufra system
285
1,680
40
137
Ghadames system
Northeast Jabal Hassouna
system
East Jabal Hassouna system
West Jabal Hassouna system
Jaghboub
Al-Gardabiya reservoir
6.8
4.7
15.4
24
The Hassouna
project was designed
to transport water
directly to Tripoli
and Tarhouna
a holding reservoir at Ajdabiya and
then on to two larger reservoirs, called
Al-Gardabiya and Omar Mukhtar. The
separate Jaghboub system, close to the
Egyptian border, was designed to service
Tobruk and its surrounding area.
In the west, the Hassouna project was to
transport water directly to the capital,
Tripoli, as well as Tarhouna, while the
Ghadames scheme would serve the
coastal towns of Zuara and Azzawiya.
Eventually, the Kufra-Sarir-Tazerbo-SirteBenghazi system would be linked via
pipeline to the Hassouna-Tripoli network,
creating a nationwide system.
In total, the GMR project called for the construction of five major storage reservoirs
with total capacity of 55 million cubic
metres. By far, the largest, with a proposed
capacity of 24 million cubic metres, was
the Grand Omar Mukhtar reservoir.
A key part of the project was the construction of two PCCP manufacturing
plants at Sarir and Brega. Each plant was
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TUNISIA
Tripoli
Benghazi
Tobruk
Sirte
Phase 1
The GMRs first phase covered the
construction of the Tazerbo-Sarir-SirteBenghazi system, which is often referred
to as the SS/TB project. Dong Ah was
awarded the $3.8bn main construction
contract in 1983, which was largely completed a decade later.
While it carried out the majority of the
contract itself, the Korean contractor
also subcontracted out several packages,
including the construction of the Grand
Omar Mukhtar reservoir at Benghazi
and the Grand Al-Gardabiya reservoir
at Sirte, which was won by the local
Al-Nahr Construction. A number of elements of the first phase project were not
included in Dong Ahs scope, including
the well drilling contract, which was
awarded to Brazils Braspetro.
The first phase programme breaks down
into several distinct parts. The Tazerbo
wellfield is connected to a 170,000-cubicmetre collection tank, which is then
linked to the first major 256km pipeline
network. This transports water to Sarir,
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where there are two more 170,000-cubicmetre tanks and the separate Sarir collection system joins the main pipeline.
Ajdabiya
EGYPT
From here, two four-metre-diameter pipelines extend a further 380km north to the
Ajdabiya reservoir. The two pipelines
then travel east and west to Benghazi and
Sirte, where they meet end reservoirs as
well as the Grand Omar Mukhtar and
Grand Al-Gardabiya reservoirs, built to
stockpile water in case of drought.
Ghadames
Jaghboub
LIBYA
Tazerbo
ALGERIA
Kufra
NIGER
Pipeline
Reservoir
CHAD
SUDAN
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Phase 2
Dong Ah started work on the second
phase of the project in 1986, although it
was not until 1990 that it was officially
awarded the $6.1bn construction contract.
During this phase, which cost $7.4bn in
total, 2,115km of pipeline was installed to
carry 2.5 million cm/d of water from the
east, west and northeast Jabal Hassouna
wellfields to Tarhouna on the Jifarah Plain
and then on to Tripoli. In addition, associated pumping stations and regulating
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Dong Ah started
work on the second
phase of the Great
Man-made River
project in 1986
71
In 1997, Libya
decided to split
phase two of the
Great Man-made
River project
TUNISIA
Tripoli
Benghazi
Tobruk
Sirte
Ajdabiya
EGYPT
LIBYA
East Jabal Hassouna wellfield
ALGERIA
NIGER
Phase II
Reservoir
CHAD
Tripoli-Sirte pipeline
SUDAN
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Phase 3
In 2001, a consortium of Japans Nippon
Koei and the UKs Halcrow was awarded
the $15.5m contract to design the third
phase of the project, with a reduced
scope. This covered the construction of
pumping stations at the Kufra wellfield,
a 380km pipeline linking the field with
the Sarir/Tazerbo network, along with a
140,000-cubic-metre regulating tank, flow
control stations and roads. The contract
ran until 2009 and required new studies
of the field to be carried out.
TUNISIA
Tripoli
Benghazi
Tobruk
Sirte
Ajdabiya
EGYPT
GMR 1
LIBYA
Sarir wellfield
Tazerbo
ALGERIA
GMR 3
Kufra
NIGER
Phase III
Phase I
Reservoir
CHAD
PCCP=Pre-stressed concrete cylinder pipe; GMR=Great Man-made River. Sources: GMRA, MEED
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Phase 4
In 2004, Al-Nahr was awarded a $960m
contract for the fourth phase of the
project, covering drilling, construction
of production facilities and installation
of pipeline systems for the GhadamesAzzawiya-Zuara and Jaghboub-Tobruk
systems at a cost of $960m. The following
year, the company awarded a design and
project management subcontract to Brown
& Root. The Ghadames-Zuara-Azzawiya
section was due to be completed by the
end of 2011 although this was delayed by
the civil war.
Since 1983, the GMRA has awarded more
than $15bn worth of contracts, with the
majority going to Dong Ah. Its sister
agency, the GMR Water Utilisation
Authority (GMRWUA), also became a significant client, placing over $2bn worth of
contracts for reservoirs, water distribution
networks and infrastructure for new tracts
of agricultural land.
Agriculture was always earmarked as
the main beneficiary of the GMR project.
From its inception, Tripoli set a target for
at least 80 per cent of GMR water to be
used for agricultural production, by irrigating up to 160,000 hectares of land.
However, because of a rapid decline in
water production from Libyas coastal
aquifer system, as well as the slow pace
of development of the countrys desalination network, the target was lowered to
66-70 per cent prior to the civil war.
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TUNISIA
Tripoli
Benghazi
Tobruk
Sirte
Ajdabiya
EGYPT
Ghadames
Jaghboub
LIBYA
ALGERIA
NIGER
CHAD
SUDAN
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GMR infrastructure sustained damage during the civil war, most notably the Brega
PCCP plant, which was hit by Nato airstrikes in July 2011. At the time, Nato said
that the plant had been targeted as it was
under the control of Gaddafi loyalists and
was home to multiple rocket launchers.
In the immediate aftermath of the civil
war, it was unclear how much priority the
new government in Tripoli would attach
to completing existing contracts on the
GMR, or to awarding outstanding work.
The GMR always was a highly political
project for Gaddafi, who described it as
the eighth wonder of the world. It is
unlikely to be abandoned completely,
given the vast sums already invested in it
and its growing contribution to water supply. Moreover, if future investment is not
forthcoming, then an alternative water
production strategy will need to be developed and quickly, or Libya will face growing water shortages.
Description
Contract type
Phase I
Sarir-Sirte/TazerboBenghazi system
Main construction
contract
Reservoirs
Construction subcontract
Tazerbo/Sarir wellfields
Drilling
Hassouna-Tripoli-Tarhouna/
Assdada system
Main construction
contract
6,100
Dong Ah
Hassouna-Tarhouna system
Main construction
contract
760
Dong Ah
Hassouna wellfield
Drilling
360
Dong Ah
Al-Gardabiya/Assdada
pumping stations
Main construction
contract
410
Vinci
Al-Gardabiya-Assdada
pipeline
Main construction
contract
na
Main construction
contract
450
SNC Lavalin
Kufra-Tazerbo/Sarir pipeline
system
Main construction
contract
500
Tekfen
Ghadames/Zuara/Azzawiya
system
Design, construction,
operation of GhadamesZuara-Azzawiya system;
Jaghboub-Tobruk system
Phase 2
Phase 3
Phase 4
Value ($m)
Contractor
3,800
Dong Ah
na
Al-Nahr
Construction
na
Braspetro
Al-Nahr/Vinci
1,100
SNC Lavalin
960
Al-Nahr
Construction
Planned water usage for the first three phases of the GMR project (cm/d)
Municipal
Agricultural
Industrial
Total
Phase 1
410,170
1,506,030
83,800
2,000,000
Phase 2
1316090
1,175,660
8,250
2,500,000
Phase 3
253,000
1,427,000
1,680,000
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