Nile dam talks inch forward but Egypt gets no water guarantee
Sat Oct 18, 2014 10:58pm GMT
CAIRO Oct 18 (Reuters) - The three main countries that share the Nile
River's waters moved toward an agreement to study whether a planned $4
billion Ethiopian dam would disrupt flows to downstream countries, water
ministers of Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt said after talks on Friday.
But while the countries continue talks, construction will proceed on the
Renaissance Dam, which will be Africa's biggest dam and aims to provide
cheap power for countries as far away as South Africa and Morocco.
"The committee agreed to short-list seven consultancy firms to undertake the
hydrological and socio-environmental studies," the water ministers said in a
statement.
The consultancies were not identified, though British construction law firm
Corbett has been chosen to oversee the administrative aspects of the
studies, the statement said.
The project, being built by Italy's Salini Impregilo SpA , aims to produce
6,000 megawatts of electricity for a power-hungry region..
But it has upset Egypt, which relies almost exclusively on the Nile River
for farming, industry and drinking water for a rapidly growing population.
Cairo is concerned that years of filling the new dam's 74 billion cubic
metre reservoir will temporarily cut the river's flow, and that surface
water evaporation from the huge new lake will then reduce it permanently.
In a sign of the limits that talks will have on Ethiopia's plans to become a
regional power hub, the country's water minister declined on Friday to offer
any hard guarantees that the dam would not adversely affect Egypt.
"Ethiopia designs all the dams in the country in a way that does not harm
significantly the downstream countries," Alemayehu Tegenu said in response
to a reporter's question.
"This is a principle. This principle by itself is very important. There is
no need to give a guarantee."
The tripartite committee of water ministers are slated to resume talks in
Khartoum in November, where they will decide on the firm to conduct the
socio-environmental study. (Reporting by Shadi Bushra; Editing by David
Gregorio)