It is no secret that nature has crowned Ethiopia as “the water tower of Africa. Most of the country’s neighbors count upon rivers that have their source in the Ethiopian Highlands. If truth be told, of billons cubic meters of renewable fresh waters that originate, only 3% empties in the country and the rest flows out of the country.
Most people in the world do not seem to know the fact that Ethiopia contributes 86% of the Nile River which Egypt and Sudan consume, but make use of less than 1% of that amount. All and sundry should be able to familiarize themselves with the nuts and bolts of the fact that Ethiopia possesses a hydroelectric potential of 60 billion kilowatt hrs. per year the bulk of which is entrenched in the Blue Nile Basin.
In the same way, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will have paramount economic value to Ethiopia without a shred of a doubt. Moreover, the country can double its electricity generation capacity and earn billions of dollars year after year from energy exports to a wide spectrum of East African countries.
Though Ethiopia every so often makes an effort to provide its people living in the left, right and center of the country with electricity making use of its God-given resource, the desired goal is not achieved yet. Therefore, taking this reality on the ground into consideration, Egypt should get to the bottom of the problem through
dialogue.
In fact, carrying out a wide spectrum of development activities making use of the Nile River plays a major role in transforming the lives of millions of people of the basin.
A case in point, soil research findings indicate that the present soils in Egypt are poor in nitrogen, iron, zinc and magnesium contents. Due to deficiency in these micronutrients, the color of plants has changed over the last 40 years.
Therefore, it has been suggested that the Rosaries of the Sennar and the Merowe Dams in Sudan plus the Aswan High Dam in Egypt require enhancing and expanding the natural vegetation patterns within Ethiopia. Hence, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project will generate energy and contribute a lot to counter deforestation.
The Ethiopian Herald April 3/2020
