It has been more than a decade since Ethiopia launched the largest African dam construction project on the Abay River. Ethiopians have been eagerly awaiting the construction of such a largest dam on Abay for centuries for reasons. Fore leaders had taken different initiatives to realize it; however, financial and many other impacts that stem from respective nations interests had been hindering the construction of the dam.
According to confirmed sources, the site of GERD was identified when the US Bureau of Reclamation first made a survey of the Blue Nile River during the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie I between 1956 to 1964, the construction could not be launched because financial constraints.
Again the coming generation turned the page keeping the effort and started the survey. In October 2009 and between July- August 2010 two site surveys were carried out, and the final design document was submitted in November 2010.
The Ethiopian Government kept the design phase of the project undisclosed until one month prior to the laying of the foundation stone for GERD project. The planning phase of the project was carried out under a name called Project X, which was later changed to Millennium Dam and finally to its present name.
GERD is under construction in the Benishangul-Gumuz state of Ethiopia, on the Blue Nile River, which is located about 40 km east of Sudan. The GERD is a roller-compacted concrete (RCC) gravity-type, comprising of two power stations, three spillways and a saddle dam.
On completion, the main dam will be 145m high and 1,780m long. The reservoir, with a surface area of 1,680m2 at full supply level will be formed in the middle section of the dam, between the left and right banks.
The Abay basin covers two-third of Ethiopia’s surface water and contributes 86 percent of the water to the river Nile. Experts in the water and economy sector lauded that the accomplishment of GERD will bring about sustainable socio-economic development in the Horn of Africa region.
The accomplishment of the Dam will turn more than 60 million citizens from darkness to light not only in Ethiopia but the neighboring nations. It is believed the success will also improve the lives of millions of people in the Horn of Africa too.
Currently, electricity export is the strategic objective of Ethiopia. While operational, GERD will generate more than 6,000 MW of electricity, which is two times of the current installed capacity of Kenya.
Following GERD’s operation, Ethiopia will become the second-largest producer of electricity in sub-Saharan Africa next to South Africa. The ongoing aspiration to generate affordable electricity helps Ethiopia to develop manufacturing sector.
More importantly, 99.9 percent of Ethiopia’s energy is clean and renewable adding that the country is the leader in consuming clean-burning energy in the world. It generates power only from hydro, solar, geothermal, and wind sources. Therefore, the country is a great model for the developing world to highly integrate with the green economy.
Presently, Ethiopia exports power to Sudan and Djibouti while it is on the way to export power to Kenya, Tanzania, and other East African countries. It has also planned to export electricity to North Africa, South Africa, and the Middle East.
GERD is not a single country’s project. It is a regional project and that aspires to interconnect the region. It perfectly suits the African Union (AU) regional integration agendas and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) vision. As Ethiopian integrates the whole of Africa via air transportation, GERD will also integrate Africa via electricity.
Tourism experts also commended the untapped potentials of the GERD towards attracting numerous international and local tourists. Therefore, it is expected to invest more regarding the development to standardized touristic services around the project. The experience of local and multinational investors shows that they prefer investing in the larger cities, prominent tourist destinations, and special natural and man-made tourist destinations. Thus, the GERD project sought to be a new destination of local and international investors.
The Ethiopian government is also working to avail and expanding road infrastructure, star hotels and lodges, tour guide activities, among others, to increase the number of international and local tourists’ arrival in to the future tourists’ paradise, GERD project area.
BY TEWODROS KASSA
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD FRIDAY 8 APRIL 2022
