The Sudanese people have been looking forward to for decades, and China has not only helped them achieve them, but also slapped Western countries in the face?

The world's longest dam, born in the hands of Chinese?

Sudan's dam

When it comes to the Nile, most people may think of Egypt, the world's longest river, everyone knows. Ancient Egypt, the four major civilizations, once prospered on both sides of this river. But what does it have to do with Sudan? This is because the territory of the Sultanate is the confluence of two major tributaries of the Nile, and the length of the Sultanate that flows through the territory of the Sultanate accounts for one-third of the total length of the Nile. As a river known for its flooding, the Nile has distinct periods of high and low water. Sudan, who depended on the Nile for food, suffered from flooding for their agricultural production.

With the development of the times, the technology of relying on the construction of large-scale water conservancy projects to generate electricity has gradually become the mainstream of the world. Sudan, on the other hand, is not only suffering from flooding because it cannot build a dam, but is also about to miss out on the opportunity to use hydropower to develop its own manufacturing industry. Just when Sudan was suffering from falling behind the development of the world, the good fruits it had sown were rewarded.

The good result is that relations between Sudan and the mainland have always been very good. Sudan established diplomatic relations with China the second month after its founding in January 1959, and has maintained good relations with us in the decades since. As the mainland's economy begins to develop, our infrastructure strength has also been improved. In 1996, the mainland officially began to build the Three Gorges Dam, and it took several generations of Chinese to brew after 40 years: the vision of a high gorge coming out of Ping Lake! Finally started the practice.

It can be said that no one understands better than we do the desire of the Sudanese to build dams; Only we can understand the meaning of the flood being merciless. As early as Dr. Sun Yat-sen's "Strategy for the Founding of the People's Republic", the idea of building a dam on the Yangtze River was proposed. It is now incumbent upon us to fulfil the aspirations of the Sudanese. Just because we have this strength! But when our explorers arrived in Sudan, the difficulties they were about to face were beyond their imagination.

The ambition of the Sudanese

In order to improve people's livelihood and stabilize agricultural production, Sudan has repeatedly proposed plans to build dams as early as the last century, but due to lack of funds and technology, the plan to build dams has not been realized. Egypt, located on the lower Nile, has not been dealing with them. Egypt, which is desperately short of water due to its soaring population, has always tried its best to prevent Sudan's dam construction plan. For example, when Sudan goes out to pull aid, Egypt will make bad things behind its back, so that Western countries will not give Sudan loans.

In addition, the Nile's water situation is too complicated, which makes the construction of the dam very difficult. As the longest river in the world, the Nile flows through an area that is too flat to store water. The arid climate and high sand content also add additional challenges to the construction of dams. Even if ordinary countries can repair it, they have to set aside a huge amount of construction funds. For the backward Sudan, this is a price that cannot be afforded. And building a dam has also become a problem for generations of Sudanese.

As a monsoon climate country, rivers are at risk of flooding all year round, and floods break out every once in a while. In history, the mainland has left the legend of Dayu governing water. As the mother river of Chinese civilization, the Yellow River is also a moody river. Therefore, in the construction of water conservancy, it has always been a descendant of Yanhuang, and it must be full of technology. After entering the new century, the technology of building concrete dams on the mainland gradually matured. The mainland's water conservancy construction has also begun to accept overseas orders. Our intention to cooperate with Sudan was reached during this time.

Difficulties faced in construction

The area chosen by Sudan to build is located in the Sahara Desert on its territory. This area is not only flat in terrain, but also has a huge temperature difference between day and night. This presents three major problems in the construction of the dam.

The first is that the riverbed is too flat to store water. If a dam is to be built, it is necessary to dig a large pit artificially to facilitate the subsequent storage of water for the dam. Because in this project, the Sudan also requested the use of dams to generate electricity. Therefore, our engineers must first create enough gaps before they can use hydropower generation.

Then the second question comes up. Because of the too flat riverbed and large runoff, the Nile River is not deep, but the river surface is too wide. If the flow is to be intercepted, a 9.7-kilometre-long dam will have to be built. What is this concept? If you walk on the playground of 400 meters, you are still close to walking 24 laps.

The third problem is that excessive temperature differences can cause concrete to crack. Although concrete dams, it is normal to have cracks. The 9.7-kilometer super-long dam, coupled with a huge temperature difference between day and night, will accelerate the expansion of the crack. If it is not repaired in time and the construction work is completed as soon as possible, it is likely to lead to the collapse of the poured dam. In the end, the whole project fell short.

Our construction team worked hard for more than 2,000 days and nights not only to complete the construction of the dam, but also to take into account its practicality. Immediately after the dam was completed, it became the main source of irrigation water for the surrounding 400 kilometers of land. At the same time, with the help of the mainland, Sudan has established a power grid system with the Melovi Dam as the core. It not only makes the installed capacity of the hydropower station reach 1250 megawatts, but also greatly reduces the electricity price around the hydropower station. In one fell swoop, the dream of the Sudanese for many years.

And those countries that once obstructed the Sultan, those that once laughed at China, were slapped in the face with strength by our engineers. The decades-long friendship between China and Sudan has also been raised by the dam.

Well, today's content is here, if you want to hear more interesting stories, you may wish to pay attention, I am Jin Yan, we will see you in the next issue!