The French Ambassador to the Republic of Armenia, Olivier Decottignies, along with representatives from the French Development Agency, visited the Vedi dam and irrigated area.
The ambassador shared this information on his X microblog.
"3200 hectares of irrigated land with 5000 beneficiaries on the most fertile plain in Armenia. The project, financed more than 80% by the French Development Agency, will be completed in a few months," wrote Olivier Decottignies.
According to the project, the Vedi reservoir will harness the waters of the Vedi River's tributaries, allowing irrigation of the southern part of the Ararat Valley without overburdening Lake Sevan.
The program is being implemented with a loan from the French Development Agency, co-financed by the government. The total program amount is 90 million euros, of which 75 million are loan funds. The loan agreement came into effect in May 2016. Approximately 70 million euros have already been invested in the construction of the reservoir.
It was previously reported that the Vedi reservoir was expected to be operational and start filling with water by the spring of 2024. However, there has been some delay in the project's completion due to minor issues, including those related to sluices.
Armenia plans to construct 15 small reservoirs by 2026. Tenders for designing six small reservoirs were announced earlier, with competitions held for five of them. Currently, the process of developing feasibility studies for these five reservoirs is underway.
