Water from Turkey has begun to flow once more into the Gecitkoy dam, Birol Cinar, TRNC manager for the project has said. All the recent technical problems have been solved and as of last Monday, the water has been flowing continuously to the dam.
Assuming that no other technical problems arise, the dam will be completely filled within four months, Cinar said.
He noted that the cost of filling up the dam including electricity charges, will be covered by Turkey’s State Water Affairs Department (DSI).
Meanwhile, the dispute about who will manage distribution of the water continues.
The Minister of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Food, Erkut Sahali said that their continued efforts to resolve the disagreement has not yet yielded results.
He proposes that the issue be solved by establishing cooperation and partnership between the state and private sectors. The minister emphasised that it was out of the question to accept any impositions on the TRNC on the subject of water management.
In December, the Turkish water affairs minister issued a statement saying that a framework agreement had been signed by the TRNC government in 2010. The agreement said that the DSI would transitionally manage the water and then hand over operations to a private company.
Havadis
