North Darfur’s Tawila dam to be restored

The Tawila dam restoration project in North Darfur was launched on Sunday in Khartoum. The project will be implemented by the US Agency for International Development, the UN Office for Project Services, and the state government of North Darfur.After the launch, the Director of the US Agency for International Development told the press that the dam will increase the water storage capacity from 300,000 cubic metres to 460,000 cubic metres. This would lead to an increase of ​​irrigated land in Tawila locality from 60 hectares to 125 hectares. The increased access to water will reduce the risk of conflicts, floods, and droughts, and support the livelihoods of the local communities.The US Ambassador to Khartoum, Joseph Stafford, said, that apart from supporting the restoration of the dam, his country intends to increase its humanitarian support to the affected in Darfur. The Tawila dam, built in 1945, is located 70km west of North Darfur’s capital El Fasher. A part of the dam was demolished in 2000, and stopped functioning because of the accumulation of silt. File photo: Water point in Turba, a few kilometres from El Fasher (Albert Gonzalez Farran/Unamid)