The Iraqi government on Friday
played down reports from the United States and the UNited
Nations that the key Mosul Dam is in danger of imminent
collapse.
The alerts are "not correct" and "unrealistic", said Mahid
Rashid, an aide to the Iraqi water resources ministry.
On Thursday the US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power,
reiterated warnings that their could be a "catastrophic
collapse" of the dam.
Rashid added that the Italian company Trevi "will start work
for maintenance within two months, according to a spokesman for
the firm".
The risks of Iraq's biggest dam breaking have recently
increased, United Nations sources said Thursday after a meeting
Monday between Power and Iraqi Ambassador Mohamed Alhakim.
If the dam breaks more than a million people could be
drowned by its waters.
The UN appealed to "carry out the necessary work" to repair
the dam "as soon as possible", before it is too late.
Italy's Trevi construction group is set to start repairing
the dam under the protection of Italian troops.
On March 2 the Italian foreign ministry said that the
Cesena-based Trevi group had signed a contract with Iraqi
authorities for consolidation work on the Mosul Dam, following
"intense" negotiations with Baghdad.
The contract is worth some 273 million euros, ANSA learned
from informed sources in Baghdad.
The repair and strengthening work will last 18 months, they
said.
The project was agreed on a recent visit to Rome by Iraqi
Premier Haider al-Abadi and was the subject of talks in New York
between Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni and US and Iraqi
representatives to speed the terms of the contract, the ministry
said.
The arrival of some 500 Italian soldiers to protect Trevi's
restructuring work on the dam, whose urgent need for repair has
been highlighted by the US, has been scheduled for late spring,
either May or June, officials said Monday.
The contingent could be composed of the Garibaldi Brigade
bersaglieri with armoured vehicles, plus special forces, sappers
and air support.
Reconnaissance and analysis of the area to be secured have
already been carried out.
Defence ministry plans to deploy the troops are at an
advanced stage.
The Iraqi government and the US Embassy in Baghdad warned
local residents on February 29 that the Mosul Dam may collapse,
a risk the US called "serious and unprecedented".
The US said a collapse could cause the deaths of nearly 1.5
million Iraqis living along the Tigris River.
"Prompt evacuation offers the most effective tool to save
lives of the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis," the U.S. embassy
said at the time.
The US has warned in the past of the potential for
collapse.
Built in the 1980s, the dam is situated on soft mineral
foundations, easily dissolved by water.
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