Construction Begins on Santa Maria Dam

by Murry Page
21 Mar 15
mazmessenger.com

Yesterday Mario López Valdez, Governor of the state of Sinaloa, and David Korenfeld, head of the National Water Commission, presided over the ceremonial beginning of the construction the Santa Maria dam in El Rosario.

The dam is budgeted to cost 7.770 billion pesos ($591 million) of which 1.100 billion pesos ($84 million) will be invested this year.

The Santa Maria dam will be built in the bed of the Rio Baluarte topping out at 120 meters (393 feet) and spanning a length of 784 meters (2,522 feet).

Korenfeld told reporters that the Santa María dam will be three times larger than the Picachos dam, will be the 13^th dam in the state of Sinaloa and the 6^th largest in terms of capacity.

(from El Sol de Mazatlán)

Santa María Community Hopes for a Better Life

by Maureen Dietrich
19 Jan 15
mazmessenger.com

The town has stood beside the Baluarte River for five decades.

Inhabitants of the tiny Santa María pueblo in the municipality of El Rosario which stands in the path of the new Santa María dam say despite the planned destruction of their town, the people will benefit.
The town has stood beside the Baluarte River for five decades, but today is a shell of a community inhabited primarily by the elderly and children.

Today the town is a shell of a community inhabited primarily by the elderly and children.

Violence by roving gangs and unemployment have taken their toll forcing fifty percent of the population to flee to safer locations where work might be found.

Residents have demanded the relocation of the adobe temple of the Virgin María de Gracia.

In exchange for abandoning their ancestral homes, the residents have demanded fair payment for their land and houses, relocation for families, exhumation of those buried in the local cemetery and relocation of the cemetery to the new town, and relocation of the adobe temple of the Virgin María de Gracia.

Construction on the Santa María dam began three months ago. Santa María residents say once the dam is operational their town will be found 130 meters below water level.

(from Noroeste)

Construction of Santa María Dam to Begin this Year

by Maureen Dietrich
15 Jan 15
mazmessenger.com

Construction of irrigation canals will begin at the same time as construction of the dam.

Ingenieros Civiles Asociados (ICA), the largest construction consortium in Mexico, has signed a contract for 3,989 million pesos with the National Water Commission to begin within the next few months the construction of the Santa María dam in El Rosario. The much anticipated dam will increase agricultural development and supply water for the Centro Integralmente Planeado “Playa Espíritu” tourist resort in southern Sinaloa.

According to information provided by ICA to the Mexican Stock Exchange, the project is expected to be completed by January, 2018.

Fernando Valdez Solano, of the Sinaloa Development Council, commented that ICA will work in association with a contractor specializing in hydraulics.

Personnel from the company have arrived in the area to begin work on the project which has been anticipated for the last three decades.

To avoid conflicts with communities that will be affected by the dam, as occurred when the Picachos Dam was built, Valdez Solano said they have come to an agreement with the Santa María town population including the amount of rent they will pay while waiting for the federal government to come to an agreement and pay the community for the hectares the dam will occupy.

He also pointed out construction of irrigation canals will begin at the same time as construction of the dam.

(from Noroeste)