Damascus, (SANA)-During its session held on Sunday chaired by Speaker of People's Assembly Mahmoud al-Abrash , the People's Assembly listened to the Irrigation Ministry's written answers concerning the reality of water in Syria as well as the measures taken by the Ministry to speed up the implementation of dams and the strategic irrigation projects.

Minister of Irrigation Nader al-Bunni pointed out that the allocated credits according to the Water Resources General Commission plan has included giving priority to complementing the projects that have already started.

In response to a question on licensing wells on the border region between Syria and Turkey, Minister al-Bunni said: ''It was allowed to handle the status of the wells located within the border of the Euphrates basin, with an 8-Km depth distributed in Aleppo(Izaz, Al-Bab, Jarablus, Ein Arab). Also, it was allowed to drill wells within the border line of the Orontes basin within 4 Km in Efreen".

He also indicated that granting permits for agricultural purposes is stopped in all governorates except for Lattakia and Tartous for reasons related to climate circumstances.

On the possibility of changing the irrigation nets to embedded ones, Irrigation Minister said that such a measure would exact new loans on farmers upon shifting to modern irrigation.

The Minister clarified that the ban on drilling wells in Damascus and Damascus countryside is due to the water crisis in the two governorates, noting that no such ban exists in the governorates with no water crises.

Irrigation Minister also said that a memo of understanding was signed between the State Planning Commission and the Kuwaiti Fund for a grant to study the economic feasibility of Tigris project, indicating that the Kuwaiti fund will finance the project upon starting to implement it.

Members of the People's Assembly have underlined the need to find a speedy solution to the cement crisis, urging the government to take the necessary measures to make this material available in markets.

Manal Ismael/Ghossoun