ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Italy’s top diplomat in Iraq said on Tuesday that the country has provided private funding for repairing the Mosul Dam near the northern city of Mosul, adding that there is “great cooperation” between Rome and Baghdad on water resources management. “The Italian government funded the repairs of the Mosul Dam and achieved greatly regarding the dam, as the Italian Trevi company carried out the work,” Maurizio Greganti, the Italian Ambassador to Iraq, told state media. Built in the 1980s on a karst foundation, there have been longstanding concerns about the stability of the dam’s structure, with experts warning that a potential collapse could submerge many of Iraq’s cities southward along the Tigris - including the capital Baghdad - underwater. The dam is currently being renovated and restored by an Italian company since it was briefly seized by Islamic State (ISIS) militants in 2014. “We have funded this project in cooperation with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and we have strengthened the safety of dams in Iraq,” Greganti said. According to the ambassador, Italy and Iraq maintain great cooperation in the field of water, with Rome having helped establish the National Dam Safety Department in Iraq’s water resources ministry with joint cooperation from Water Resources Minister Aoun Diab. Mosul Dam is the largest in Iraq and can store up to 11 billion cubic meters of water that is used in agriculture and residential sectors. It also produces hydropower, generating an average of 580 megawatts of energy per day.
