(UNTITLED)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP07-02247R000200180004-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: January 12, 2017
• Document Release Date: June 29, 2011
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: January 1, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

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III. CONSTRUCTION OF THE MALT CN A LACCELERATED By
NEW RAILROAD LINE TO TAKHIA TASH
On 11 September 1950 a decree was published by the Council of
Ministers of the USSR initiating the construction of the Main Turkmen
Canal. The project calls for the completion by 1957 of a navigable
canal 1,100 kilometers (700 miles) long and 100 meters (300 feet)
wide, which will connect the Amu-Darya River with the Caspian Sea
at Krsicnn~~.~.i r.L
The exploration of the proposed
canal site was launched in 1951 and began simultaneously from the
northeastern and southwestern ends of the route -- Cape Takhia
Tash (approximately 42?17'N-59?45'E) and the vicinity of Yashkan
Lake (39?42'N-55?35'E), north of Kazandzhik. Construction work on
the canal has been most intensive in the vicinity of Takhia Tash,
the main installation on the future canal. From the initiation
of the project until 1952, progress of construction was relatively
slow, owing to problems of supply and shipping, which taxed to
the limit the available river and air transport routes. A possible
solution was the construction of some supplementary means of transport.
Attention was brought to focus.on the railroad line already
under construction between Chardzhou (36?06'N-63?34'E), the trans-
shipping center for freight to the Main Turkmen Canal, and Kungrad
(43005'N-58055'E), the northern terminal in the Amu-Darya Delta.
Prior to 1952 this line had been completed to Urgench (41?33'N-
60?38'E), some 120 kilometers (75 miles) southwest to Takhia Tash.
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SECRET
The additional incentive for building the railroad speeded up
construction, and the railroad line was extended to Takhia Tash by
27 February 1952.
the first freight
train arrived at Takhia Tash on February 29. This achievement assured
an uninterrupted flow of supplies and material to the main construction
site of the Turkmen Canal. Since that date, equipment required for
the construction project has been shipped on a 24-hour basis. The
shipments consist largely of dump trucks, concrete mixers, mechanical
loading machines, gasoline engines, and precision instruments of
various types. The railroad, whose construction apparently was
stimulated by the construction of the canal, has itself become a
significant artery of transport for the economic development of the
area.
Takhia Tash is located 7 kilometers (4 miles) southwest from
Nukus, the capital of the Kara-Kalpak ASSR, Uzbek SSR, and is situated
at the outlet of the Main Turkmen Canal to the Amu-Darya. Although
a rocky promontory unknown until recently, Takhia Tash is being
developed into the most important power and hydrotechnical installa-
tion along the course of the canal. The installations will consist
of an earthen dam across the channel and flood basin of the Amu-Darya,
a concrete spillway, a power house, concrete structures for the
entrances to the two existing irrigation canals (Lenin and Kyz-Ketken)
opposite Cape Takhia Tash, embankments, aqueducts, a navigation lock,
settling reservoirs, and the first section of the Main Turkmen Canal.
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The dam across the Amu-Dar'ya will raise the water level by 6
meters (20 feet), thus ensuring water for the canal. and for the
whole system of irrigation canals on both sides of the river.
The settling reservoirs will prevent silt from the Amu-Darya
from entering the canal. The reservoir, in addition to providing
a constant and even inflow of water into the canal, will also
provide water to irrigate the entire area of the Khorezm Oasis,
located nearby. The dam and dikes of the reservoir will also
prevent floods of the Amu-Dar'ya, which have often caused serious
damage to the settlements, fields, and gardens of the Khorezm
population of the area.
An aerial tramway is being built across the Amu-Dar'ya to
carry workers and supplies to the construction site at the other
end of the dam. Its 800-meter (2,600-foot) cables will be anchored
to ferroconcrete towers and will serve as a temporary river
crossing until the dam has been completed.
From Takhia Tash, the Main Turkmen Canal will flow in a west-
southwestward direction, passing to the south of the Sarakamysh
Depression, and will proceed across the Kara-Kum Desert along the
ancient bed of the Amu-Darya (the Uzboy) to the and regions of
the Caspian Plain. In the vicinity of Kazandzhik, two parallel
trunk canals will branch off southward toward the Atrek River.
The method of constructing the canal is of a pioneer type
in which a narrow channel is cut for several kilometers, filled
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with water, and then widened and deepened to the required dimensions
by suction dredges. The volume of water pumped from the Amu-Dar'ya
is initially fixed at 350-400 cubic meters (12,360-14,125 cubic feet)
per second. It is planned to increase the volume to 600 cubic meters
(21,000 cubic feet) per second in an effort to maintain a navigable
water level to the Caspian Sea.
In addition to the main dam and electric power plant at Takhia
Tash, two other dams along the canal, both with impounding reservoirs,
and electric power plants have been planned. One installation, the
Burgun Dam and Reservoir, will be built in the region of the Igdy
Wells at approximately 40?N. The second will be located at Yashkan
Lake. The combined rated capacity of the three hydroelectric plants
is estimated at 100,000 kilowatts.
The Main Turkmen Canal project will be of great significance to
the economic development of vast areas of Soviet Central Asia. It is
claimed that irrigation will be extended to 1,300,000 hectares
(3,000,000 acres) of new farm land located in the southern Caspian
Pls.ins of western Turkmenia, on the delta of the Amu-Darya in the
Kara-Kalpak ASSR, and in the northern part of Turkmenia. In addition,
the project is to supply water to 7,000,000 hectares (17,290,000 acres)
of pasture land in the Kara-Kum Desert, to 500,000 hectares (1,235,000
acres) of productive forest plantings along the canal, and to areas
surrounding industrial centers and populated places. The size of the
areas to be irrigated by the Turkmen Canal is based solely on published
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Soviet figures, which have been quoted without verification in
various publications both in Great Britain and the United States.
Finally, the Main Turkmen Canal will be an important transporta-
tion artery, carrying cotton, grain, mineral fertilizers, and farm
machinery, as well as passengers, from the Caspian Sea to-the lower
reaches of the.Amu-Dar'ya and the Aral Sea.
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