ADDIS ABABA – Minister of Water, Irrigation and Electricity Dr. Eng.Sileshi Bekele said Ethiopia expects the recent progress made on Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) to continue in the upcoming technical meetings.
This remark came as the three countries prepare to meet over the Addis Ababa in January. The countries have been discussing and showing progress with regards to reaching an agreement on points that have been causing discord since the inaugural of the construction of the GERD, Sileshi said yesterday while briefing journalists on the meeting that was held in Khartoum last week.
Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan discussed on coming up with rules and plans for the filling of the dam, water management and energy development, and data exchange issues, Sileshi said. The water release negotiation held in Khartoum related to mitigating drought conditions based on the natural flow of the Nile and water release rates from the dam, he stated.
Accordingly, the countries reached common consensus on the filling of the dam to be within four to seven years, he said. As to him, Ethiopia will accept no precondition on the water release rate as it aims to begin its energy development as soon as possible but might reconsider the conditions once the two turbines begin to operate in two years.
The countries have not yet reached agreement on drought definition based on river water volume, as Ethiopia assumes drought to hold meaning only when water volume dips below 35 billion cubic meters while Egypt claims anything below 40 billion cubic meters constitutes a drought, he noted.
Ethiopia also rejected Egypt’s request for assurance of natural water flow. “The country only negotiates about the water that will be contained in the dam’s reservoir.”
“We hope some of the points of disagreements in previous meetings will be resolved in the Addis Ababa meeting.” However, if the negotiation is not finalized; as per article ten of the tripartite agreement, negotiation and mediation will be carried out based on the conditions the three countries see fit.
Furthermore, the Minister indicated the mediation of the US and World Bank in the negotiation has brought significant improvement in smoothing the discussions, and in ensuring peaceful, and fact-based dialogue.
The Ethiopian Herald, December 25/2019
BY YOHANES JEMANEH
