The construction of the Kaps Reservoir in Armenia’s Shirak Province has commenced after a 30-year halt, Armenpress reported.

The €120mn project envisages two stages. First, the construction of a reservoir with a capacity of 25 million cubic meters, and the second stage will increase the capacity to 60 million cubic meters.

The Kaps Reservoir will be located 22 kilometers north of Gyumri, on the Akhuryan floodplains.

Armenian authorities had planned its construction back in 1985 to provide irrigation water for over 30,000 hectares of land, but the project was halted in 1993 due to the worsening economic situation following the 1988 Spitak earthquake and the collapse of the USSR.

Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan, Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Gnel Sanosyan, foreign ambassadors, and representatives of the contractors and funding organizations were also present at the groundbreaking ceremony.

The first stage will enable saving 1.3mn kW/h of power annually by way of switching from manual to automatic irrigation. The projected power saving will reach 11mn kW/h under the second stage. Thousands of hectares of lands in Armenia will be ensured with irrigation water as a result, leading to increased agricultural output.

The project is implemented with the loan provided by the KfW Development Bank and co-funding by the Armenian government. The contractor is the Chinese Shanxi Construction Investment Group Co.

The construction is planned to last three years.

Moreover, a new village is being built nearby because the reservoir area will encompass parts of Jradzor village. This new village will be fully-built in the spring of 2026.