Feature stories Water 46231 ISSUE 16 | October 2008 Rehabilitating Water Infrastructure in Conflict Areas: Iraq's Dokan and Derbandikhan Emergency Hydropower Project Background Moreover, having been in operation for close to three decades, the power plant was in need for The Dokan and Derbandikhan hydropower plants rehabilitation. are the two largest power plants in the Kurdistan The Derbandikhan Dam is located on the Regional Governorate of Iraq. Both connect to the Diyala River, upstream of its namesake town, ap- national power grid and each plant is part of a proximately 420 km northeast of Baghdad. Con- multipurpose scheme for electrical power produc- struction of the Derbandikhan Power Station was tion and irrigation. A combination of wars, sanc- completed in 1983, but operation commenced tions, lack of maintenance, and underinvestment only in 1990 due to a delay in connecting an in energy infrastructure over several decades has overhead line to the national grid. Only one unit severely affected the entire power system infra- was commissioned by the contractor, who had to structure in Iraq, including the Dokan and Der- vacate the construction site with the onset of the bandikhan hydropower plants. In the context of Second Gulf War; the other two units commenced the World Bank's Second Interim Strategy Note for operation without proper commissioning. The res- Iraq of 2005, which stressed the need to restore ervoir impounded by the dam has a total design basic service delivery, the Government of Iraq capacity at normal operating level of 3,000 mil- requested World Bank financial support on the lion m³, of which 2,500 million m³ is live storage Dokan and Derbandikhan Emergency Hydropower and the remaining is dead storage. Current stor- Project. age volumes are considerably less due to sedi- ments that have accumulated over 25 years. Early Project descriPtion on, the Derbandikhan Dam suffered from a large slope failure on the right bank, approximately 100 m upstream of the dam itself. As a result, subse- The Dokan Dam is located on the Lesser Zab quent modifications were made, and monitoring River, approximately 220 km upstream of its con- indicated that additional slope movement was fluence with the Tigris River. The site is located minimal. adjacent to the town of Dokan and about 300 km north of Baghdad. The Dokan Power Station Repair and subsequent rehabilitation of the two became fully operational in 1979. The reservoir hydropower power plants became an urgent prior- impounded by the Dokan Dam has a total design ity in order to increase generation capacity in the capacity at normal operating level of 6,870 mil- Kurdish region, and stabilize the national grid once lion m³, of which 6,140 million m³ is live storage rehabilitation was completed. and the remaining is dead storage. However, over The Dokan and Derbandikhan Emergency Hy- time, water storage fell considerably due to years dropower Project aims to help alleviate the current of sedimentation and substandard repair and power supply shortfall in the Kurdish region through maintenance. These and other factors contributed urgently needed repairs; strengthen the capacity of to long outages and unreliable performance. TURKEY Iraq at a glance Human Development Index Ranking: N/A Technical Annex for a Proposed IDA Loan: Iraq SYRIAN Dokan and Derbandikhan Emergency Hydropower ARAB Population: 18.5 million ­ 70% urban, % below the basic needs poverty line: N/A REP. I R A Q Project. World Bank, 2006. ISLAMIC REP. 30% rural (1990) OF IRAN Baghdad Surface area: 438,320 km2 MOre InFOrMatIOn Iraq Country Water Resources Assistance Strategy: JORDAN Addressing Major Threats to People's Livelihoods. Life expectancy: 62 years (1990) Iraq Dokan and Derbandikhan Emergency Hydropower MENA Region. The World Bank, 2007. SAUDI GNI per capita: Estimated to be lower middle Project. Project Information Document. World Bank, ARABIA KUWAIT income (US$ 906­US$ 3,595) 2006. FEATURE SToRiES local operational staff; and prepare for subsequent Lessons Learned rehabilitation of the Dokan and Derbandikhan hy- dropower plants to restore their original generating Strong project ownership and commitment by the capacity. Government and the need for international exper- The components of the project include: repairs tise to assist in preparation and implementation are for Dokan and Derbandikhan; an assessment necessary for effective delivery of complex projects of future rehabilitation needs of the Dokan and in conflict areas. The focus on immediate repairs Derbandikhan hydropower stations and dams and and rehabilitation works of existing hydropower the related environmental impact assessment; and plants was justified by the urgent need to restore engineering and other technical and operational basic electricity services to the population. Equally support, including to the project management important was that the scope of the project included team. technical assistance to support assessment of addi- tional rehabilitation and investment needs required to ensure longer-term sustainability of the power Project status plants and safety of the dams. The project started implementation in 2007. Sub- sequently, the project management team has made reLeVant Project significant progress in preparing bidding docu- Dokan and Derbandikhan emergency ments and draft contracts for most remedial works Hydropower Project and repair activities financed through this initiative. Project ID: P099059 Contracting activities for financed works are in Timeframe: 2007­2010 Loan Amount: US$ 40 million progress. Water Feature Stories are published by the Water Sector Board of the World Bank. They are available online at www.worldbank.org/water and in hardcopy from whelpdesk@worldbank.org. 2