Press Release

OPEC Fund extends US$22.72 million to Turkey for irrigation project

56/2005 May 6, 2005, Vienna, Austria
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The OPEC Fund for International Development has signed a US$22.72 million loan agreement with the Republic of Turkey in support of an integrated irrigation/environmental initiative in the Central Anatolia Region that seeks to boost agricultural productivity and support energy development, while protecting the threatened wetlands of the Develi plain.

With an annual average precipitation of just 340 mm, Central Anatolia receives less rain than anywhere else in Turkey. This is a serious problem for the area’s large farming population. Crop yields per hectare are low and cultivation is confined to 60% of arable land for lack of water. The climatic conditions are also a hazard for the plain’s fragile ecosystem, which is protected under the Ramsar Convention.*

The Fund’s loan will complement government resources to implement the second phase of this important, ongoing project. Phase one completed the construction of three dams and related irrigation schemes over an area of some 19,000 hectares. Under phase two, works will continue with the building of a 10,700 m tunnel to divert water from the Zamantı River, together with associated structures such as a weir, approach and conveyance channels, a chute to feed the future hydro-electric power station, and the main irrigation channel.

On completion, the project will allow for the irrigation of a further 7,460 ha of farmland. An additional 7,000 ha will be upgraded from partially irrigated to fully irrigated. This should lead to greatly increased agricultural production, especially at a commercial level, and ultimately raise incomes and living standards among the 100,000 rural inhabitants of the Develi Plain. The environmental component of the project will secure the protection of the ecosystem formed by the Sultansazlığı and Yay lakes.

This is the fourth loan to be extended by the OPEC Fund to Turkey. Two of the previous loans were for balance of payments support, while the third helped finance a multi-sectoral, rural development project. Turkey also received emergency aid from the Fund in 1999 following a devastating earthquake.

Today’s agreement was signed in Istanbul, on the sidelines of the 38 th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank. The signatories were Mr. Memduh Aslan Akçay, Director General, Under Secretariat of Treasury of the Republic of Turkey, and Mr. Suleiman J. Al-Herbish, Director-General of the OPEC Fund.

Data Summary:

* The Convention on Wetlands, signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971, is an intergovernmental treaty which provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.