Our ancestors have inherited to us this sovereign and uncolonized country by achieving victory against Italian aggression army at the battle of Adwa in a spirit of loyalty, commitment and unity. They sacrificed their lives in that battle field and became a source of pride for the whole African people and the rest of freedom loving people all over the world.
Now, years were counted that we have started to go further in freeing our country from the worst conqueror- poverty- and to uplift it to the level of developed countries by accepting our ancestors’ pledges.
Great news was heralded on April 02, 2011 for Ethiopian. It was historical day that the foundation stone was laid for the construction of The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Project. After hearing this news, the Ethiopians expressed their great happiness in this project and expressed their full support for the construction of the dam. All in all we stand for development eagerly and with regression that we inherited from our forefathers for we could not use our natural resource for centuries. Not only assuring being side with the government in construction of the dam, but also the support was continuing from all Ethiopians who are across the world so far.
Currently we are at the final stage of constructing this great dam with a slogan “we are engineers, we are builders and we are the source of funding for the project” hence we will finish the project as we have started by ourselves without any external support.
The Nile River, which has practically ruined Ethiopia’s soil fertility for neighboring countries for years is now to start being source of development for Ethiopia with its committed government and historic society.
Despite being source of delight for us, some countries got sad and suspicious of what we planned to do right from the inception of the project. Especially the development of this dam by Ethiopia is the most frustrating news for some politicians and scholars in Egypt specially those who had been preaching for ages that the Nile Rivers is uncontested gift of God for them only.
They thought that Ethiopia could not engage in developing the river unless or otherwise with the permission of the Egyptian government. Yet this creative generation has conceived the construction plan in a way that not only would not affect the benefits of the other countries like Egypt and Sudan but also actually maximize their benefits in a better, sustainable and mutual ways. With this principle, the generation started constructing this dam. The government has begun to conduct various diplomatic activities to benefit from the Nile with the Nile river basin countries in a fair manner to develop it together for the construction of the dam together.
Currently, the dam has reached 65%. The people have shown unprecedented support through donations and purchase of bonds. Hence, 12.4 billion Birr, and is still going on so far.
It is a universal fact that such mega projects constructing by spending billions suffers from different challenges in the world. Accordingly this is what is happening in Ethiopia today. The Ethiopians are still continuing their support for this project which is the sign of proud and greatness even at a time when we have been hearing serious problems on the project. It won’t be surprising if people become nervous when they hear such sad news. Such problems might have not be there had reliable, trustful and periodic reports reached the society.
Although the dam which is serving as the role model project for other African countries has faced many challenges, it is still ongoing and sharing experience for others. Despite some limitations in peoples support for the dam, it is still continuing. The best proof of this will be the collection of 484 million 72 thousand Birr for this fiscal year until the end of December.
Similarly speaking, the survey conducted by our office indicates that Ethiopians have continued to support the construction of the dam, considering that the surrender to the challenges is a source of humiliation.
On this basis, we can say that it is challenge resilient project. And the government insisted on completing the dam with taking corrective measures for the problems.
Meanwhile, the government considered it as a matter of death or life activity. Then the work of the local METEC Company was handed over to experienced foreign contractors following the reform. And the employees who were under the METEC are still on work. Besides, we are doing day and night to complete this project.
We will certainly complete this national solidarity renaissance dam that we have started saying “yesterday”. It’s not just in word that when we say, “completing The Grand Renascence Dam is our national pride!”
It is the great source of power for this generation of Ethiopians and also created a paradigm of our country for our fellow Africans and the people of the world. In this case, we are asking all our people a great apology for the inconvenience caused by the lack of information, yet in the future we will report all the progress of the project on time and we are confident that you will strengthen our mutual support and complete the project with its time schedule.
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is our national pride!”
By GERD media and communication directorate.
The Ethiopian Herald April 13, 2019
