“This project includes 17 dams and a 150 kilometer tunnel through the Iranian provinces of West Azerbaijan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Ilam, and Khuzestan,” Abdullah Abdullahi, head of Khatam al-Anbiy, told IRINN on Monday.
In 1990, the IRGC established Khatam Al-Anbiya, which is now the Islamic Republic’s biggest construction firm.
In an interview with Fars News agency last year, Khatam al-Anbiya head Gen. Ali Abdullahi said 200,000 Iranians work for the company.
The aim of this project is to move water from the west of Iran to the east and center of the country. This means diverting the waters of the Little Zab and Sirwan rivers – both of which flow into Iraqi Kurdistan.
According to Abdullahi, part of Khatam al-Anbiya’s project is to channel water from the Little Zab to the dried up Lake Urmia in Iran’s Western Azerbaijan Province.
“The construction of the tunnel is part of resurrecting Lake Urmia. This tunnel is 10 kilometers, built over 18 months to move water from Little Zab to Lake Urmia. This project will be finished at the end of next month,” Abdullahi said.
In the last two decades Iran has entered a new phase of water crisis resulting in mass protests. Three major water resources have dried up, including Lake Hamoun in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Zayandehrood River in Isfahan Province, and Lake Urmia in West Azerbaijan Province.
Khatam al-Anbiya has built 25 billion cubic meters of Iran’s total 45 billion cubic meter water storage capacity.
On June 2, the Kurdistan Region town of Qaladze suffered serious water shortages after Iran restricted the flow of the cross-border Little Zab River.
When Khatam al-Anbiya’s water projects come into service, the Kurdistan Region could face an even more severe water crisis, as the Sirwan and Little Zab Rivers are two of its five major water resources
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