ADDIS ABABA – Chief Project Manger of the Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam (GERD) Engineer Kifle Horo said that the construction of GERD’s saddle dam has been finalized except for some construction supervisorion.
The chief project manager told the Ethiopian Press Agency that the saddle- shaped dam is part of the bigger GERD and it was built to store the desired 74 billion cubic meters of water. The dam is crucial to reserve water and currently the civil work is fully completed apart from carrying out some observations.
Noting that the completion of the saddle dam has crucial importance to accumulate the desired level of water and power generation, Engineer Kifle stated that the construction of the dam has been carried out meticulously so as to prevent water infiltration effectively and efficiently.
According to him, the dam is filled with a 5.2 kilo meters concrete and has a 50-meter height and a 14 million cubic meters stone concrete. “This kind of dam is part of the world technology and
thousands of similar dams have been built across the globe. The technology we employed is a proven one that no question could raise regarding the quality.”
Mentioning that the tallest concrete dam has a 645- meter-height, the manager noted that the water volume reaches in 640 meter above sea level and the height of the saddle dam is lower than the main dam so as to avert water infiltration.
Engineer Kifle pointed out that the civil work of GERD’s saddle dam was
carried out by an Italian industrial group Salini Impregilo which is specialized in the construction and civil engineering business. Salini has a reputation in the world by successfully completing big dams and Gibe I, Gibe III and Beles dams and Koysha Hydroelectric Project are among its flagship projects in Ethiopia.
“Ethiopia also employs internationally acclaimed design institute to design the saddle dam showcasing the project is fully carried out by multinational contractors and construction consul- tants,” he remarked.
The Ethiopian Herald April 28/2020
BY BILAL DERSO
