Syria, Turkey to construct mutual dam  

(MENAFN) Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Syrian Prime Minister, Muhammad Naji Otri, signed a deal to build the dam on the Orontes River, which runs from Lebanon into Syria and Turkey, reported Tehran Times.

The dam is planned to be 580 meters long and 14.5 meters high and would store 115 million cubic meters of water on the Turkish-Syrian border.

The project is estimated to cost USD28.5 million and serve the purposes of preventing floods, producing 16 million kilowatt-hours of electricity and watering 10,000 hectares of agricultural fields in both countries every year.

It is worth noting that under Erdogan's premiership, Turkey's relations with Syria and other Arab countries in the Middle East got stronger as the country signed several trade deals and visa-free travel accords with countries in the region, including Lebanon.