Iraq awards contract to Italy's Trevi to repair Mosul dam

The government of Iraq has announced that it has awarded a contract to Italian firm, Trevi, to repair and maintain the Mosul dam, which is the country's largest dam.

According to the announcement on Tuesday, the dam is currently in danger of catastrophic collapse berceuse it has been built on an unstable foundation of soils that erode when exposed to water. Since 2014, when the city of Mosul fell into the hands of Daesh Takfiri terrorists, a lapse in maintenance of the structure has weakened its already flawed structure, AFP reported.

Experts have noted that the dam has been in danger of collapse for a long time, warning that if the huge structure broke down, it could send a huge wave crashing into the city of Mosul, which is Iraq's second largest city, located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the dam.

The Iraqi government released a statement on Tuesday saying that with the agreement of the Ministry of Water Resources, the contract has been awarded to Italy’s Trevi "to carry out the project of rehabilitating and maintaining the Mosul Dam."

According to the statement, the deal has not been signed yet.

The Iraqi government’s statement, however, did not specify how much Trevi would be paid for the work.

Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced last December that his country would deploy 450 troops to defend the dam, a decision which has been linked to Trevi's interest in the project.

Italian forces have been already deployed to Iraq and are currently training the Iraqi police as part of international efforts to counter Daesh.

A US military commander in Iraq, Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland, said last week that the measuring devices have been put on the dam to monitor how much it is "moving or deteriorating over time."

Construction of the dam was completed in 1984 and since that time, the Iraqi government has made efforts to shore up the foundation by injecting mortar-like grout into the subsoil and cavities in order to control seepage.

The maintenance work, however, came to a halt in 2014 when Daesh terrorist group briefly seized the dam.

In 2007, Washington’s ambassador to Iraq and the United States’ top military commander in the Arab country wrote a letter warning that the dam could fail with devastating results.

"A catastrophic failure of the Mosul dam would result in flooding along the Tigris River all the way to Baghdad," they said in the letter, adding, "Assuming a worst case scenario, an instantaneous failure of Mosul dam filled to its maximum operating level could result in a flood wave 20 meters (66 feet) deep at the city of Mosul."

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