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(AGI) – Baghdad, 2 Feb. – Italy’s construction group Trevi, a global leader in underground engineering, has landed the contract to repair the Mosul Dam, the largest one in Iraq, which is in danger of catastrophic collapse. In December 2015 Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced that Italy would deploy 450 troops (Italian forces are already in Iraq to train police as part of international efforts to counter the Islamic State) to defend the dum, which is considered a strategic infrastructure in the country. Now, few months later, the Iraqi Cabinet, in agreement with the Ministry of Water Resources, awarded the Italian firm Trevi a contract “to carry out the project of rehabilitating and maintaining the Mosul dam”. The news of the deal, that, according to Trevi, has yet to be signed, came just days after the commander of the military operation against Isis warned of dam's potential collapse, which could cause mass flooding along the Tigris river all the way to Baghdad.
The Mosul dam was built on an unstable foundation of soils that erode when exposed to water, and a lapse in maintenance after Islamic State seized it in 2014 weakened the already flawed structure. The repair work on the dam is therefore considered to be urgent, both in terms of security and of hydrogeological stability. Due to concerns over the geological conformation of the area, priority will be given to reinforcing the foundations of the reservoir. The rehabilitation work will therefore not only concern the part of the dam above the ground but also the part underground.
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