Erdogan announced the hydropower facility launch on Monday’s meeting with Turkish government. “We will start operating of six turbines of Ilisu Dam. It will be one of the largest projects in our country. The plant will start working on 19th May,” Erdogan said in his speech.
Construction of the dam on Tigris River was approved by Turkish government back in 1997, and should produce electricity for the whole surrounding region. Around 80.000 people from almost 200 villages had to leave their homes so that the project could have been constructed. The construction is so massive, that it even aroused concerns in neighboring Iraq on water supply on coastal areas on the lower reaches of the Tigris River.
After years of delays Turkey started filling the dam in last July. There are activists protesting against the dam and warning of environmental impacts of the dam. The Ilisu Dam should generate 1.200 megawatts of electricity, and that makes it Turkey’s fourth-largest hydropower plant.
