ADDIS ABABA – Finalizing Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is a top priority of the government and the flagship project would for sure be gone operational as per the newly established timeline, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ( PhD) said. The Prime Minister made this remark following a meeting with GERD Project Manager Eng. Kifle Horo, who briefed him on the current status of the dam.
The GERD manager disclosed that the project has reached 66 percent completion at this point. The progress of various projects within the GERD was also disclosed with 83, 25 and 13 percent completion of the civil, electromechanical and steel works respectively. According to the briefing, Ethiopia has so far spent up to 98.7 billion Birr on the GERD. This is much higher than originally estimated, and it is primarily due to project delays, according to the report.
Eng. Kifle recently told Addis Zemen daily that while preparing to mark 8th year anniversaryof GERD, works of regaining public trust and motivation are underway to retrieve participation up on completion of the dam. Roman Gebre Selassie Director General of the National Council for the Coordination of Public Participation on the Construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam said that the office is working earnestly in expanding the support to be provided towards the construction of the dam.
Public contribution is far less compared to previous years due to delays and an extra cost on electro mechanical works and information gap, transparency problem hasmisled the public which created demotivation on participation to finance the grand project, she noted. “We are working to retrieve the vibrant public participation and gain public trust through different activities”.
Recently, the council conducted a research on public conscience and 48 percent of the population said that the government should finish the project by its own budget. And the rest expressed that the sacrifices paid by the public shouldn’t back down now. According to the Director General, the council will participate till the end at whatever cost.
Over the past six months, 484 million Birr bond has been purchased by public which shows the firm commitment of the public to finish the dam, she stated. A total of 130 billion Birr is needed to finalize the dam which is expected to be completed by the end of 2022, according to the revised schedule.
The Ethiopian Herald, April 2/2019
BY FASICA BERHANE
