ADDIS ABABA– The government of Ethiopia has briefed Addis Ababa-based diplomatic community on the current progress of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) project.
Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Dr Engineer Seleshi Bekele and State Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hirut Zemene gave the briefings to the diplomatic community yesterday. They told the ambassadors about the trilateral meeting held between water ministers of the three countries on September 15 and 16 in Cairo, Egypt.
During the meeting, Dr Engineer Seleshi and Hirut reflected Ethiopia’s stance regarding the filling process of reservoir of the dam and other related issues.
Diplomats and Ambassadors of African, European, America, Asian, and Middle East countries attended the meeting.
The next trilateral meeting between the three countries: Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt will be held in Sudan as of October 3, 2019. Ethiopia recently rejected a unilateral proposal tabled by Egypt
regarding the filling process of reservoir of the dam.
Ethiopia rejected the proposal because it had breached the agreement signed between the three countries on fair and reasonable utilization of the waters of the Nile River, said Dr Engineer Seleshi. According to the Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) works on GERD project are progressing well.
FDRE President Sahle-Work Zewde said that, cooperation in the Nile basin is not an option but a necessity while addressing the general debate of the 74th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.
Nearly, 65 million Ethiopians do not have access to electricity, she said.“The utilization of the Nile waters offers a unique opportunity for our trans-boundary cooperation between the sisterly countries of the region. It should never be an object of competition and mistrust.”
Ethiopia strongly believes that the utilization of the Nile River shall be based on the principles of equitable and reasonable utilization of natural resources causing no significant harm, she noted.
Dr Abraham Belay, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of EEP, said that the project is now 68.3 percent completed and will be finalized in 2023. Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Dr Abiy Ahmed said finalizing the dam according to the timeline established is his government’s key priority.
Located in Benishangul-Gumuz regional state, approximately 500 km North West of the capital Addis Ababa, GERD will be the largest dam in Africa with a total installed power of 6,450 MW up on going operational.
The Ethiopian Herald Sept 28/2019
BY HAILE DEMEKE
