"Aswan" a Aswan Travel Page by lvdpiet

Aswan is famous for its Dam. The high Dam that is! Already in the beginning of the 20 th century, the British Colonial government build a dam into the Nile. It is called the lower dam and it produces mainly a more or less constant level of the river Nile, as well as a little electrical energy for the city of Aswan.
In the early sixties however, President Nasser wanted a better protection against the level of the Nile and he saw the coming rise of the need of electrical power. So he wanted to build a much higher dam, producing more electricity then needed for Egypt, using the surplus of power as an export article for the surrounding countries to support Egypts economy.
Because of the Suez crisis, Nasser could not get help from western countries, so he went his politics to the USSR and with succes! The Russians engineered and build this higher dam, creating a lake of 235 KM (!) long. After the dead of Nasser, President Sadat had the dam finished in 1971 with great ceremony and a huge monument. This monument, in the shape of a lotusflower is still standing there, as the picture shows.