Ethiopia, a country of 112 million people, is currently limited in its development by a lack of electricity for its people. Around 65% of the population does not have access to electricity and this greatly hinders the nation’s ability to grow economically. To solve this problem, a project was introduced that would be able to produce sufficient electricity for the entire country whilst also providing surplus for exporting purposes. This project was the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (formerly known as the Millenium Dam), to be built on the Blue Nile river 60km from Sudan and 750km from the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. The structure’s main purpose is as a hydroelectric power plant and will be recognized as the largest in Africa and 7th largest of the world, having a construction cost of 4.7 billion dollars. With a projected capacity of 6,000MW, it will be able to support the entire nation’s power grid while still being able to export surplus to Sudan, Egypt and Djibouti.
Being the largest project of its kind in Africa, it has garnered a lot of attention, especially from neighbouring countries who feel that their water security is at risk by the dam, which produces electricity by blocking Nile tributaries. The dam started construction in 2011, with its initial design phase being kept secret by the Ethiopian government until one month prior to the laying of the foundation stone. Upon its publication, bordering countries (primarily Egypt and Sudan) began questioning the consequences of such a construction since 11 nations are dependent on the Nile. A tripartite committee consisting of Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan was formed in January 2012 to promote understanding and investigate the benefits and impacts the project would have on the three countries. Fortunately, after a meeting between the Ministers of Water of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia in March 2012, Sudan's President Bashir said that he supported the building of the dam. The same cannot be said however, about Egypt, whose former water minister Nasr Allem says, “The direct consequences of the construction of the damn for Egypt will be enormous”. Egypt is very fearful since filling the dam's reservoir could reduce Nile flows by as much as 25% and Egypt relies on the river for 90% of its water and also believes that agricultural areas would become unstable, groundwater tables would sink and seawater will infiltrate and salinize the river delta.
Egypt is most worried about its agriculture sector, which is responsible for over 80% of Egypt’s water consumption. The nation has already had to halt major agricultural projects due to water shortages, which have greatly affected farming techniques. Farmers used to have access to a continuous water supply but now must irrigate in rotation, with fights often erupting from arguments on who has access first. Some farmers must wait between 20 and 30 days between watering their crops and this can be very dangerous for the health of the yield. In addition, a rise in temperature over the years means that even more water is needed to keep plants alive and prevented from drying up. Egypt requested to be granted inspection allowance on the design and studies of the dam, to allay its fears, but Ethiopia denied the request unless Egypt relinquished its veto on water allocation. The disputes have not been receding and in 2013, the president of Egypt stated "Egypt's water security cannot be violated at all," clarifying that he was "not calling for war," but that he would not allow Egypt's water supply to be endangered. January 2014, Egypt left negotiations over the dam, because of Ethiopia’s intransigence however the threat of war still remains, as In October 2019, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed warned that "no force can stop Ethiopia from building a dam. If there is need to go to war, we could get millions readied."
The Ethiopian public is generally in support of the construction, with many using the #itismydam tag on social media platforms in anger after the US entered the negotiations, siding with Egypt. Even though a large portion of locals did not know what a dam or its purpose was, they are mostly in approval since the construction is creating 12,000 jobs. Ethiopians hope that this project will mark the beginning of a new development for Ethiopia and an Ethiopian journalist, Tsedale Lemma, says “This is a project for Ethiopians, by Ethiopians”. Despite being repeatedly criticized for its consequences, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance dam also provides positive environmental and economic effects. It will facilitate flood protection in the lower areas, irrigation, sediment control and navigation. Because of its filtration, the dam will reduce alluvium in Sudan by about 100 million cubic metres and reduce 40km of potential flooding. Despite not having reached a formal agreement, Egypt and Ethiopia are less tense after its first tests went successfully without noticeable affects to Egypt’s water supply and hopefully in the future, the conflict will continue to recede.
References:
https://www.dw.com/en/grand-ethiopian-renaissance-dam-still-controversial/av-57606608 https://www.dw.com/en/living-planet-why-in-egypt-water-security-is-national-security/av-54553627 https://www.monitor.co.ug/uganda/news/egypt-foreign-minister-says-nile-water-safe-despite-ethiopia-dam-threat-3406478 https://www.voanews.com/africa/ethiopia-set-start-generating-power-blue-nile-dam https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2090447917300837 https://www.water-technology.net/projects/grand-ethiopian-renaissance-dam-africa/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Ethiopian_Renaissance_Dam
Well done Lorenzo. A really good read. You can take the lesson on this subject when we get to it ;-) - Mr P.