- Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has officially inaugurated on 20th February, electricity production from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
- The controversial mega-dam on the Blue Nile, is set to be the largest hydroelectric project in Africa, almost doubling Ethiopia’s electricity output.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has officially inaugurated on 20th February, electricity production from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
The controversial mega-dam on the Blue Nile, is set to be the largest hydroelectric project in Africa, almost doubling Ethiopia’s electricity output. The $4.2bn project is expected to produce more than 5,000 megawatts of electricity. On the inauguration day it started generating 375 megawatts of electricity from one of its turbines.
Since 2011, when Ethiopia started construction of the dam, the project became the centre of a regional dispute. Egypt and Sudan are worried about their water security as both the countries totally depend on the Nile River for their needs. Egypt, which depends on the Nile for about 97 percent of its irrigation and drinking water, sees the dam as a huge threat. Sudan, despite its hope that the dam will control annual flooding in the country, is of the view that a consensus on the GERD’s operation is a prerequisite. Ethiopia on its part regards it as critical for its electrification and development. Both Sudan and Egypt have been pushing Ethiopia to sign a deal over the filling and operation of the massive dam for long. The African Union (AU) initiated several rounds of discussions among the three countries, but talks have failed to reach a conclusion.
The dam was initiated under the late Prime Minister of Ethiopia Meles Zenawi. Prime Minister Abiy has been applauded for reviving the dam. To realise the project, the government of Ethiopia aggressively sought support for the project from its citizens. In its launch year, Civil servants contributed one month’s salary towards the project and the government also issued dam bonds targeting Ethiopians at home and abroad. It is hailed as the biggest public project of Ethiopia with participation from its citizens.
