ANKARA (Thomson Financial) - Turkey has signed a deal with an international consortium for a loan of 1.2 billion eur to build a major dam on the Tigris River, Anatolia news agency reported.
The consortium extending the loan includes 14 companies, among them Turkey's Water Management Authority as well as financiers from Austria, Germany and Switzerland, Anatolia reported.
'This was one of our most difficult projects... It has become a project of pride and determination,' Energy Minister Hilmi Guler said.
The dam, to be built outside Dargecit town, 28 miles from the Syrian border, is scheduled to become operational in 2014.
Part of a large decade-old plan to boost economic development in the poor, mainly Kurdish southeast, it will create up to 10,000 jobs, pave the way for fisheries, irrigate vast areas of farmland and provide vital energy for Turkey's flourishing economy.
It will become Turkey's second-largest water reservoir and fourth largest power-producing facility, generating 3.8 billion kWh of electricity per year. tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.com rfw/ms1 COPYRIGHT Copyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.
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