The "BoulaSba" dam project in the Kasserine North delegation has reached the stage of announcing an international tender for the preparation of in-depth studies, Ahmed Trabelsi, acting regional commissioner for agricultural development, told TAP. The dam project, which has been planned since 2015, has emerged as an urgent solution for the containment of run-off water in the region, he stressed. The same source explained that the preliminary geotechnical and geophysical studies for the project have been completed and that it will take two to three years to implement the project once the in-depth studies have been completed. At an estimated total cost of 50 million dinars, the planned dam at the mouth of the Oued Lahtab will have a storage capacity of between 40 and 45 million cubic metres from the torrents of the wadi, which covers some 120,000 hectares. An irrigation zone of about 400 hectares will be created around the hydraulic structure on the plateau of the Sbeïtla delegation, in addition to a second irrigation zone of more than 500 hectares covering the regions of BoulaSba, Sidi Harrath and El Arich in Kasserine-North, according to the same source. Once completed, the BoulaSbaa dam will harness run-off water, estimated at 50 million cubic metres per year, to supply the surface and deep aquifers of the towns of Kasserine and Sbeïtla. It will also be used to protect the plains of Sidi BoulaSba, Oued Lahtab and Sidi Harrath from flooding, to irrigate some 2,400 hectares in the lowlands and Foussana and to supply the Kasserine industrial zone with some 3 million m3 of water. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse