Ethiopia dismisses Egyptian media reports on Renaissance Dam
January 2, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – Ethiopian Minister of Water Resources and Energy Motuma Mekasa has denied Egyptian media report saying that Ethiopia had built a reservoir for the Renaissance Dam stressing his country would not stop the construction works.
“The construction works of the dam project are ongoing and wouldn’t stop and it will be filled according to the timetable of the construction,” he said.
The Ethiopian minister pointed that the consultancy firms which were agreed upon by Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia to conduct the technical studies on the dam will begin their work in early February.
“The French consultancy firms would conduct their studies while the construction work is ongoing. The construction work is going according to the plan,” he said.
He said the invitation extended to the foreign and irrigation ministries in Sudan and Egypt by the Ethiopian foreign ministry to visit the Renaissance Dam comes within the framework of the good intentions and trust building among the three nations, noting the Sudanese and Egyptians ministers welcomed the invitation.
Following the eleventh meeting of the tripartite committee on the dam last week in Khartoum, the ministers of irrigation and foreign affairs of Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia signed a document including several agreements pertaining to the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
The three parties reached an agreement on the consultancy firms which would conduct the technical studies on the dam, noting that the French Artelia and BRL groups have been selected to undertake the dam impact studies.
The multi-billion dollar dam is being constructed on the Blue Nile, about 20 kilometres from the Sudanese border, and has a capacity of 74 billion cubic meters, and is expected to generate electrical power of up to 6,000 megawatts.
Egypt is concerned that the dam could reduce its quota of 55.5 billion cubic meters of the Nile water, while the Ethiopian side maintains that the dam is primarily built to produce electricity and will not harm Sudan and Egypt.
(ST)