A BOLD ENGINEERING PROJECT

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 301, 16 September 1919, Page 5

A BOLD ENGINEERING PROJECT

LINKING THE MEDITERRANEAN AND PERSIAN GULF.

A Belgian engineer, Jl. Gustavo Defosse, has proposed what looks like a bold project for linking up the Mediterranean with ■ the Persian Gulf by water, making a ship canal nearly 100U miles • long. But the task is far less formidable than appears at first sight. Look at the map, and we see that the Upper Euphrates is not very far distant from the Mediterranean. The project, was set on foot some twenty years ago. and surveys were made between 11)01 and 1912, and now that tho regions to bo traversed have been pacified and regular government hns been organised, there is no reason why the waterway should not be made in a comparatively short time and at'no great expense. The "Times" engineering supplement states that the canal is to have a surface width of 378 feet with a bottom width of 230 feet, the depth being 32 feet 9 inches. Starting at the mouth of tho Oroutes at Suedinh (tho Seleucia of Tho Acts of the Apostles), tho canal is to follow that river to Lake Abiad, whence a canal would be cut to Aleppo, and from that city to Kulat Balis, on tho Euphratrti, a total distance of 119 miles from Suediab. At Kalat Balis, the Euphrates is 981 feet above the level of the Persian Gulf, which gives a fall of less than 8 inches to the mile; while to Fav,_ the terminal of the canal, a distance of 820 miles, the fall would be under 1} inches per mile. Under these conditions locks are not necessary, but M. Defosso proposes (o keep up'(he wcter level by rcgulaling dams of special design which will not interfere with the navigation, and of these there are lo bo live, of which four are in tho Euphrates section. Both the Oronles and Kuphratcs will have to ha widened and deepened. Reserve water can lie cut by damming the branches of the upper parts of these river?, and this v/aler will also 'be available for irrigation, while water power nan be us"d for generating electricity where possible. A dam at La at Balis would, it is estimated, provide -10,000 horse power; a further 30,000 could be »ot from the Oroutes and two other rivers. It is proposed lo utilise the electric power not only for lighting and for irrigation, but also to provide for the haulage of vessels along the canal A crosr-coiMitry canal via Lake El Khar, about 30 miles lornr. will link the Lnnhrates with the Ti-ris at Bm'dnd. P The estimated cost is and the work could be done m seven years.