Iraq said yesterday that Italian firm Trevi will repair and maintain the country’s largest dam, which is in danger of a catastrophic collapse that would devastate areas to the south.
The Mosul Dam was built on an unstable foundation that continuously erodes, and a lapse in maintenance after the Islamic State militant group seized it in 2014 weakened the already flawed structure.
The dam has long been in danger of collapse, an event US officials have warned could send a huge wave crashing into IS-held Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, about 40km away.
The Iraqi cabinet awarded Trevi the contract “to carry out the project of rehabilitating and maintaining the Mosul Dam”, a government statement said.
The deal has yet to be signed, according to the statement, which did not specify how much Trevi would be paid for the work.
Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni confirmed that the contract was awarded to Trevi.
“I think the contract will be signed in the next few days,” he said in Rome.
Gentiloni said contributions by the United States and other anti-IS coalition members, along with the rules governing the deployment of Italian troops to protect the work site, “will have to be determined together with the coalition and the Baghdad government”.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said in December his country would send 450 troops to defend the dam, a decision linked to Trevi’s interest in the project.
Italian forces are already in Iraq training police as part of international efforts to counter IS.