Turkmenistan built lakes in the desert

On July 16, Turkmenistan's Central Asian country began construction on a 2,000-square-kilometer lake in the middle of the Karakum desert. The project is expected to last for 15 years.

The lake is named ' Golden Age Lake ', which accommodates more than 130 billion cubic meters of water after completion, providing enough water to irrigate the cotton fields of Turkmenistan.

President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov said the lake will make the Karakum desert - a desert that accounts for more than 80% of Turkmenistan - " blooms ", and shows Turkmenistan's efforts to protect nature and improve the environment.

President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov flows the flow into a ditch belonging to the ' Golden Age Lake ' project (Photo: AP)

However, some experts fear the project could cause an environmental disaster. According to them, a large amount of water will seep through the desert soil and will evaporate at high temperatures, leaving the soil with very high salinity. They also forecast ' Golden Age Lake ' will soon become a new ' Dead Sea '.

Analysts are also concerned that Turkmenistan may take fresh water for the new lake from the Amu Darya River, located on the Uzbek border and the main source of irrigation for the Uzbek people. This could trigger a war.

' Golden Age Lake ' is one of the largest and most ambitious irrigation projects in the world, at a cost of up to 20 billion USD.