Silvan Dam and Irrigation Tunnels
Dam and irrigation tunnels, 7 km3 reservoir; Silvan irrigation tunnel 13,236 m long with a 10 m internal diameter and 212 m3/s capacity; 235,000 ha irrigation command in Turkey.
Under construction
The record
- Country
- Turkey
- Location
- Silvan, Diyarbakır
- Coordinates
- 38.293, 41.021
- Technology
- Dam and irrigation tunnels
- Capacity
- 7 km3 reservoir; Silvan irrigation tunnel 13,236 m long with a 10 m internal diameter and 212 m3/s capacity; 235,000 ha irrigation command
- Capital cost
- TRY 255 bn total project cost of the Silvan project (DSI, April 2025), converted at TRY 39.45 per US$ (World Bank official exchange rate, 2025 average); the minister put the investment at about TRY 360 bn in August 2026, not converted because 2026 has no full-year rate
- Stage
- Under construction
- Owner or client
- General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works (DSI)
- Contractor
- —
- Operator
- —
- Finance
- —
- Award or start year
- 2012
- Commissioned
- —
Record last checked 2026-10-12.
History
- 2012-05
Construction ceremony for the Silvan dam on 3 May
- 2025-04
Tunnel boring machine started excavating the Silvan irrigation tunnel on 17 April
- 2026-08
Dam body reported complete, with impoundment targeted for September 2027 and the tunnels for 2027
Sources
8 references
Every field in the record above is taken from the references below. A field that none of them confirms prints as a dash.
- DSI, Dev kostebek en buyuk tunel icin donmeye basladi, 17 April 2025. dsi.gov.tr.
- States that the Silvan dam will hold 7 billion m3 and will be the second largest irrigation dam in GAP after the Ataturk dam, that the Silvan project comprises 31 components including 8 dams and 23 irrigation facilities with Ambar, Kurucay, Baslar and Pamukcay complete, that the Silvan irrigation tunnel will be 13,236 m long with an 11.2 m excavated and 10 m internal diameter and a 212 m3/s capacity, that tunnel boring began on 17 April 2025, that total project cost reaches 255 billion lira, and that 2,350,000 dekar (235,000 ha) will be irrigated.
- DSI 10th Regional Directorate, Silvan Sulama Tunelinde kazi calismalari, 22 April 2025. bolge10.dsi.gov.tr.
- (server TLS is intermittent, returns 200 on retry).
- Haber Meydan, Silvan Projesi icin kritik tarih belli oldu, 13 August 2026. habermeydan.com.
- Reports Minister Ibrahim Yumakli saying the dam body is complete, impoundment is targeted for September 2027, the Babakaya tunnel tubes for March 2027 and the Silvan tunnel for 2027, with the investment now about 360 billion lira.
- Hurriyet Daily News, Work begins on 6 billion Turkish Lira irrigation dam in Silvan, May 2012. hurriyetdailynews.com.
- MENA Water Review major projects register and PPP pipeline — compiled from procurer publications, development-bank project pages and trade reporting; each record names its source.
Dates the construction ceremony to 3 May 2012 and gives a 174.5 m dam height.