H.E. Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Al-Thani the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, laid on Tuesday 12/05/2015, the foundation stone of the Strategic Mega Reservoirs Project to secure water supplies in Qatar. The event was attended H.E. Ahmed Bin Abdullah Al-Mahmoud, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for the Council of Ministers affairs, H.E. Dr. Mohammed bin Saleh Al-Sada, Minister of Energy & Industry, a number of Ministers, KAHRAMAA President H.E. Eng. Essa bin Hilal Al-Kuwari, and top officials. The project consists of 24 reservoirs in five different sites at a total cost of QR 17 billions.
The project comes within KAHRAMAA plans to increase Qatar water strategic storage and ensure water supply to all areas as per KAHRAMAA mission of Providing High Quality and Sustainable Electricity and Water for Better Living in Qatar.
The strategic project of the mega reservoirs is considered the largest expansion of Qatar water storage ever. It aims to increase Qatar water strategic storage till 2026 (first stage). The projects consists of 24 reservoirs at a total capacity of 2273 Million Gallons. The project includes the installation of 650 km pipelines with large diameters to form a spine joining all the key desalination plants together at the five specific reservoirs sites.
The reservoirs will be constructed at five sites located at Um Baraka, Um Salal, Rawdat Rashid, Abu Nakhla, and Al-Thumama. The principal of design is that water may be delivered from any desalination plant, to any reservoir site, allowing the water to be passed along the corridor in either direction creating both security and flexibility.
The capacity of each reservoirs is 100 MIG which is considered the largest concrete reservoir in the world. each concrete reservoir will be sized at 150 m by 300 m by 12 m deep. The reservoirs are unique in type and design. Each site consists of substantial pumping station and infrastructure to serve them.
The total cost of the project awarded contracts is QR 17 bn. 55% of contractors are Qatari companies. The project includes 4 bulk earthwork contracts, 7 pipeline contracts, 3 reservoir site contracts, and SCADA contract. The project is due for final commissioning and operation in the second quarter of 2018.
