With the operation of the main junction of the Karkar River, more than 2,000 hectares of land will be irrigated in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). Builders are currently building a concrete water intake. Irrigation water from Nakhichevanik will reach the grains of Askeran region by gravity. The program is implemented with state funds.
“The total cost of the project will be about AMD 3 billion (about $5 million 770 thousand), the first stage of the main pipeline with reservoirs – AMD 2 billion 70 million (over $3 million 980 thousand). It will spend about AMD 1 billion (over $1 million 920 thousand) on the second stage, i.e. on internal networks,” says Georgy Hayriyan, Director of Artsakh Water Economy CJSC.
Artsakh President Arayik Harutyunyan followed the construction. The water is transported to 5,150 meters through a 120-centimeter diameter pipe. The unloading basin will receive 320 liters of water per second. Drinking water from a closed pool will be supplied to Khnapat community.
“The already added water from the open pool, which flows through the pipes, goes down through the main irrigation pipes. And they have water intakes on those water mains, through which we take water and move it to the fields for irrigation,” says designer Harutyun Hakobyan.
The work must be completed by the end of the year, the Artsakh President instructed those responsible for the construction. Khnapat has high hopes for the project, they will have no problem with drinking or irrigation water. All that remains is to engage in high-value agriculture to justify the investments made, says the head of the community.
“To establish greenhouses there, to establish gardens. People have already understood that there is no income from wheat and barley,” says Samvel Shahramanyan, Head of Khnapat community.
On the right bank of the Karkar River, the arable lands of Khnapat and Khramort will be mainly irrigated. In the first stage, the water line will be connected to the Khachen-Khramort water line. After the work of the second phase, the left fields of Karkar will be irrigated, too.