Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 15:12:43 +0200
Ethiopia hands Egypt safety studies of main dam: Ministry of Water Resources
Aswat Masriya,
Tuesday 23 Sep 2014
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Irrigation ministers of Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia have adopted the criteria
and conditions under which an international consultancy will be formed to
conduct the two studies recommended by the committee of experts in May 2013,
Egypt's ministry of irrigation and water resources said Monday.
The committee, which is set to resort to international advisory companies,
will produce a detailed study on the dam's effect on the flow of the Nile's
water as well as the project's environmental, economic and social effects on
Egypt and Sudan. It should conclude its report within six months, by March,
and its results are to be binding for all.
Ethiopia has delivered some studies on the safety of the main dam as well as
designs of the supplementary dam, which Egypt has not received before as
part of the international committee of experts' work, state-run MENA agency
quoted the ministry.
Ethiopian irrigation Minister Alemayehu Tegenu promised to deliver the rest
of the studies during the committee's upcoming meeting, the ministry added.
Hossam Moghazi, Egypt's irrigation minister, has called upon his Ethiopian
and Sudanese counterparts to participate in the committee's upcoming meeting
scheduled in Cairo on October 20 and 21. Both ministers have accepted his
invitation.
Egyptian-Ethiopian relations have been strained after Ethiopia announced in
May 2013 that it will divert the Blue Nile's course, to build a dam
generating hydro-electric energy.
Egypt believes the dam would negatively affect its share of the Nile water
since the Blue Nile provides Egypt with 85 percent of its Nile water share.
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