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Aswan High Dam Construction Project

Hydroelectric Dam Project

The Aswan High Dam Construction Project was the Egyptian state initiative, built with Soviet financing and engineering support after Western funding was withdrawn in 1956, to construct a new dam upstream of the earlier 1902 Aswan Dam. Construction ran from 1960 to 1970 and required the resettlement of Nubian communities on both the Egyptian and Sudanese sides of the border, alongside the international UNESCO-led campaign to relocate the Abu Simbel temples out of the rising floodwaters. The project was central to Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser's development program, intended to control the Nile's seasonal flooding, expand irrigation and provide electricity for industrialization.

Facts
Project Type
Hydroelectric Dam Project 1
Location
Egypt (Aswan, Nile River) 1
Start Year
1960 1
Completion Year
1970 1
Status
Completed in 1970; formally inaugurated in 1971 2
Scale
Created Lake Nasser, one of the largest reservoirs in the world, and a power station of roughly 2,100 MW 2
Connections

Uses Source

Dam construction project on the Nile River, Egypt, completed 1970.

In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.View the Source
2. International Atomic Energy Agency Official Site
International Atomic Energy AgencyView the Source
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