The Great Renaissance Dam (Gerd), in Guba on February 20, 2022 (AFP/Archives/Amanuel SILESHI)
The Ethiopian Prime Minister started on Thursday a second turbine, of the 13 planned, of the megadam built by Ethiopia on the Blue Nile, the third filling of which continues despite protests from Sudan and Egypt downstream.
Abiy Ahmed again tried to reassure Khartoum and Cairo: the only objective of the Grand Dam of the Renaissance (Gerd) is to “develop our economy by producing electricity”, it “does not aim to sideline them and harm them,” he repeated.
“What the third filling, currently in progress, confirms is that the work carried out to retain 22 billion m3 of water and generate electricity via two turbines does not lead to water shortages in developing countries. downstream,” he said.
Tributaries of the Nile for their water supply, Sudan and Egypt have repeatedly asked Ethiopia to cease its operations to fill the Gerd, asserting that this megadam, presented as the largest in Africa, with an announced power of more of 5,000 megawatts (MW) in the long term and with a retention capacity of 74 billion m3, will harm their water supply.
Thursday, Mr. Abiy pushed the button starting the second turbine of the dam, according to images broadcast live from Gerd, located in the northwest of the country.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed at the launch of the first Gerd turbine on February 20, 2022 (AFP/Amanuel SILESHI)
Like the first, started in February, then launching the production of electricity from the dam, this second turbine has a capacity of 375 MW, according to the Ethiopian national news agency (ENA).
Kifle Horo, Gerd project manager, indicated that “the project as a whole is now 83.3% complete”, specifying in particular that “the civil engineering works are 95% complete”.
© 2022 AFP
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