Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Thursday said a multi-billion-dollar mega-dam on the Blue Nile that has long worried neighbouring countries is complete and will be officially inaugurated in September.
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), launched in 2011 with a $4 billion budget, is considered Africa’s largest hydroelectric project stretching 1.8 kilometres (just over one mile) wide and 145 metres (475 feet) high.
Addis Ababa says it is vital for its electrification programme but it has been a source of tensions with downstream nations Egypt and Sudan who worry it will affect their water supply.
Speaking in parliament, Abiy said GERD “is now complete, and we are preparing for its official inauguration”.
“To our neighbours downstream -- Egypt and Sudan -- our message is clear: the Renaissance Dam is not a threat, but a shared opportunity,” he added. “The energy and development it will generate stand to uplift not just Ethiopia.”
Egypt, which is already suffering from severe water scarcity, views the GERD as an existential threat to its water share from the Nile and demands a binding agreement on the dam’s filling and operation.
Sudan wants Ethiopia to coordinate and share data on the dam’s operation to avoid flooding and protect its own power-generating dams on the Blue Nile, the main tributary of the Nile. The dam is located just 10 kilometres from the Sudanese border.
Previous negotiations to reach a three-way agreement have failed, but Abiy said Addis Ababa is “willing to engage constructively,” adding that the project will “not come at the expense” of either Egypt or Sudan.
“We believe in shared progress, shared energy, and shared water,” he said. “Prosperity for one should mean prosperity for all.”
Power project
Ethiopia first began generating electricity at the project, located in the northwest of the country around 30 km from the border with Sudan, in February 2022.
At full capacity the huge dam can hold as much as 74 billion cubic metres of water and could generate more than 5,000 megawatts of power -- more than double Ethiopia’s current output.
The east African country is the second most populous on the continent with a rapidly growing population currently estimated at 130 million and has growing electricity needs.
Around half the population lives without electricity, according to estimates earlier this year by the World Bank.
