Ethiopia says Nile dam to go ahead regardless of impact study

21st September 2016, 0 comments

Construction of Ethiopia's controversial Grand Renaissance Dam on Nile River will go ahead whatever the findings of an environmental impact report agreed with Egypt and Sudan, the government said Wednesday.

"This study cannot affect construction of the dam. Construction of the dam will continue," Mutuma Mikasa, minister for water, irrigation and electricity, told a news conference.

He spoke after returning from a meeting in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, where two French engineering firms signed a contract to conduct an environmental impact study in the presence of top diplomats from Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan.

Construction of the huge dam on the Blue Nile, which began in 2012 and is to be completed in 2017, has poisoned relations between Ethiopia and Egypt.

When completed, it will be Africa's largest dam.

Egypt, which is almost totally reliant on the Nile for agriculture and drinking water, fears the dam will hit its supplies.

It has maintained its "historic rights" to the Nile, which it says are guaranteed by treaties from 1929 and 1959 which grant it 87 percent of the river's flow, as well as the power to veto upstream projects.

French firms Artelia and BRL were chosen late last year to carry out technical studies on the project that BRL said would begin in two months and take 11 months to complete.

"One of the points the study will answer is about the filling of the dam... This study is about restoring confidence between the three countries," the Ethiopian minister said.

- Regional cooperation -

The dam is designed to feed a hydroelectric project that would produce 6,000 megawatts of power -- tantamount to six nuclear-powered plants.

"This power is not only for local consumption, but also for export. We are constructing interconnection to Kenya and from Kenya to Tanzania," Mikasa said, referring to the linking-up of electrical utilities across the region.

"We are working with Djibouti, Sudan, and others. This creates regional peace and stability."

The Blue and the White Nile rivers converge in Khartoum and from there run north into Egypt as the Nile.

At Tuesday's meeting in the Sudanese capital, water ministers from the three countries said they were optimistic about the project.

"We are keen to have everyone satisfied with what we are doing... we are for regional integration and prosperity," said Mohamed Abdel Aati, Egypt's water resources minister.

His Ethiopian counterpart Matoma Makisa said the resources of the Nile should benefit all three countries.

"We need to make sure that the outcome of these studies will strengthen our cooperation and ensure that the three countries benefit from the dam," he said.

© 2016 AFP