The Belkis-Nizip dam project ... delayed by economic difficulties and natural disasters.
Flygt targets major hydro-power order
Sweden-based ITT Flygt is confident of its success on a major Turkish dam project despite current difficulties.
01 October 2001
ITT Flygt of Sweden is on standby to supply 60 pumps to what is being billed as one of the largest irrigation and hydro-electric projects in Turkey.
ITT Flygt, a leading manufacturer of submersible pumps, mixers and aeration system with a century of experience, is confident of securing the order to supply the pumps to the project once it gets back on track.
The nearly completed Belkis Nizip dam, which will involve the world's largest submersible pump station and irrigate more than 50 sq miles of land, is currently stalled because of natural disasters and Turkey's difficult economic situation.
Once in operation, this scheme - which is part of a project to build a series of dams known as Gunay Anadolu Projesi or GAP to bring power and water to the arid Urfa Plateau - will lift massive volumes of water, using giant Flygt pumps, up a vertical distance of 45 m.
The water will then flow by gravity to another lake on the plateau some 25-30 km away, which will irrigate 12,000 hectares of land.
Flygt area manager Gšran Agardh says: "We stand a good chance to receive the order since the consortium we have formed with ABB is only in competition with one other consortium, and we offer many advantages.
"This is in part because we make the motor and the drive unit ourselves, so we define the build specification. This saves money, and is in itself a real advantage for the user.
"No one else can do this - they would have to buy components in, so the pumps would only be as close to what is needed as they could find; ours are custom-designed and custom-made for this job."
There will be a total of 60 pumps; each rated at 690 kW. Forty-two units will have 500 mm discharge outlet connections, and the balance will have 350 mm connections.
"The scale of this project makes it a complete one-off," says Argardh.
"And it is urgent; the lake where the water needs to go is in an area which desperately needs it. Even the fish in what is left of the lake water are dying.
"The current, stark economic position, however, is that there's no money; the Turkish contractor has applied for $95 million, but until he can get some money, the project is on hold.
When it is completed, however, the Belkis-Nizip project will bring water to an area which is suffering from extremely arid conditions.
