Chinese Government provides $17.2 million USD for the Chukurbulak Dam Construction Project on the Khorgos River

Project narrative

On June 8, 2017, during the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Kazakhstan, the Chinese Government and the Government of Kazakhstan signed an agreement on the construction of the Chukurbulak («Шұқырбұлақ») dam on the Khorgos River. The estimated cost of the project was $34.4 million USD (₸11.7 billion KZT). The Chinese Government provided 50% of the financing for the project, or $17.2 million USD, while the Government of Kazakhstan provided the other 50%. China was set to own 50% of the dam after completion, while the other half would be property of Kazakhstan. The Parliament of Kazakhstan ratified the agreement on June 21, 2018. The mudflow dam was located on Khorgos River 5 kilometers upstream from the Kazakh-Chinese joint Dostyk Hydraulic Power System, in the small town of Dostyk in the Almaty Region on the border with China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The dam was intended to protect the Khorgos International Center for Cross-Border Cooperation, the Dostyk Hydraulic Power System, the Baskunchi and Khorgos settlements, the Atasu-Alashankou oil pipeline, road and railway bridges, and the people living in the river's lower basin, from mudflows and floods. The Committee for Emergency Situations of Kazakh Ministry of Internal Affairs and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps were responsible for the dam. Experts from both countries performed cost estimates and created designs for the project. A Kazakh-China committee was to be established to manage the construction process, while the operation and management was to be determined by a later agreement. The construction of the dam included a central reinforced concrete section (featuring the necessary metal structures), an earth part of the dam, a control and measuring system, and a temporary cofferdam and drainage channel for passing water during the construction period, as well as 200-meter shore protection structures (dams) under the dam. The dam was designed to intercept mudflows of up to 9.8 million cubic meters. Part of the dam was located on Chinese territory. Construction began on April 18, 2019.