Gahtelai Dam Project 95 percent Complete

Gahtelay Dam is the 3rd largest dam in Eritrea — Gahtelay Dam is the 3rd largest dam in the country and expected to hold 50 million meters cube of water. The dam is built on a foundation that goes down as deep as 25 meters, with 1.5 km in length and 42 meters in height.

According to Mr. Daniel Mebrahtu, coordinator of the project, the construction of Gahtelay Dam that began in 2016 by Gedem Construction Company has been 95 percent complete.

Gahtelai dam is located in Gahtelai sub-zone, Northern Red Sea region.

Indicating that the Gahtelai dam is expected to alleviate the potable water supply problem in the area in general and that of the port city of Massawa as well as significantly contribute in the agricultural activities in the area, Mr. Daniel said that the Government has deployed adequate human power and machinery for timely completion of the project.

Mr. Daniel indicated that the dam has the capacity of collecting from 46 – 50 million meter cubic water and cultivating 10,000 hectares of land.

Government of Eritrea has funneled substantial funds in past two decades to build network of dams throughout the county to harvest water and ensure incremental transition to irrigated farming in pursuit of Programme of Food Security.