Mexico’s Santa María dam 75% complete

Mexico’s water authority Conagua has advanced 75% with the construction of the 16.3bn-peso (US$786mn) Santa María dam in Sinaloa state two years after the government decided to resume work on the project. 

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) provided the figure on Sunday via Twitter, adding that his administration was mulling adding two hydroelectric plants and irrigation canals to complement the project. 

Mexican infrastructure giant ICA is leading construction of the dam, work on which was halted under the Enrique Peña Nieto administration. The contract was awarded in 2015. 

López Obrador also mentioned the Picachos dam project, which involves a 61.8km canal for irrigation on the east bank of the reservoir with a network of about 255km of pipelines and an 18.4km drainage network. But overall progress was not updated, even though the dam wall has reportedly been completed.