Saïda Reservoir Dam
Dam (storage and irrigation), 45 million m3 in Tunisia.
Under construction
The record
- Country
- Tunisia
- Location
- Oued Ellil, Manouba governorate
- Coordinates
- —
- Technology
- Dam (storage and irrigation)
- Capacity
- 45 million m3
- Capital cost
- US$71 million
- Stage
- Under construction
- Owner or client
- Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries, Directorate General of Dams and Major Hydraulic Works
- Contractor
- —
- Operator
- —
- Finance
- Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development and the state budget
- Award or start year
- 2019
- Commissioned
- —
Record last checked 2026-09-20.
History
- 2019-02
works launched
Sources
11 references
Every field in the record above is taken from the references below. A field that none of them confirms prints as a dash.
- African Manager, Barrage-reservoir de Saida: entree en service imminente, 24 August 2026. africanmanager.com.
- The Saida reservoir dam at Oued Ellil in Manouba governorate should enter service shortly.
- Works launched in February 2019 had reached 91 per cent at a cost of 214 million dinars, on figures presented by the Directorate General of Dams and Major Hydraulic Works at a follow-up meeting in the governorate.
- Two obstacles remain, the supply of 390,000 cubic metres of crushed material for the main and right saddle embankments, and an unfinished cut-off wall of 370 metres after a contract was terminated and re-awarded.
- Capacity is 45 million cubic metres for drinking water and irrigation serving Greater Tunis and the coast from Cap Bon to Sfax.
- Land regularisation of the dam perimeter is complete with 7 million dinars allocated, and the remaining components are the earth embankment, spillway, intake tower, diversion tunnel and filling canals.
- The dam is financed by the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development and the state budget and is built in parallel with the Kalaa Kebira reservoir in Sousse governorate, the two costing 600 million dinars together.
- La Presse de Tunisie, Barrage de Saida: l'Etat veut lever les obstacles et accelerer le chantier, 7 August 2026. lapresse.tn.
- Kamel Meddeb, in charge of the Directorate General of Dams, called for the stone supply to be resolved and for the dam to be finished quickly; storage is put at close to 45 million cubic metres and the dam consolidates the northern water transfer system.
- A La Presse report of 23 April 2025,. lapresse.tn.
- 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.
describes works at Saida as having officially started, which conflicts with the February 2019 launch the Directorate General gives; the 2019 date is preferred because it comes from the procuring body. Budget converted from 214 million dinars at about three dinars to the dollar.