The Great Man-made River Project is a major water transfer and supply scheme begun in the 1980s.
The network of underground pipes transfers water from the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System in the Sahara Desert to towns and cities in Northern Libya.
Project challenges and goals
- develop water resources on a massive scale to re-start or develop new irrigation projects for national food production and food independence in Libya
- stimulate the agriculture sector and create employment
- create a major irrigation water transfer scheme with a life of 100 or more years
- Phase 3 of the project is programmed for completion around 2015.
Halcrow’s role
Halcrow is the principal sub-consultant, responsible for around 50 per cent of work on the project.
Our services cover overall engineering design co-ordination and principal responsibility for the design of, and tender documentation for, the following:
- Structures: pumping stations, forebay tanks, flow regulating reservoirs and flow control stations
- mechanical and electrical installations
- power supplies
- control and instrumentation systems
- operation and maintenance facilities
- corrosion control and cathodic protection systems
- materials technology
What Halcrow brought to the project:
- our track record and experience of working in Libya and Middle East climates
- our reputation for technical excellence
- specialist skills in materials technology, concrete technology, coatings and corrosion control, cathodic protection systems, control systems
- technical and managerial resource
Outcomes and achievements
- jobs created in construction and agriculture sectors
- agricultural independence and stability
- innovations in materials technology, concrete durability, cathodic protection systems
- The Guinness World Records 2008 book acknowledges the Great Man-made River as the world’s largest irrigation project.