Ethiopia has completed the third phase of filling the reservoir for its huge dam on the Blue Nile river, the government said on Friday, a process that continues to irk the country’s downstream neighbours Egypt and Sudan. Addis Ababa says the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a $4 billion hydropower project, is crucial to powering its economic development, but Egypt and Sudan consider it a serious threat to their vital water supplies. Ethiopia sees the GERD as the centre piece of its bid to become Africa’s biggest power exporter, with a projected capacity of more than 6 000 megawatts. Abiy held a ceremony officially turning on the dam’s second turbine on Thursday, six months after the first came online. Photographs shared by Abiy’s office showed him standing at a podium in front of a huge plume of water being discharged from the front of the dam.

Source: Ethiopian News August 12, 2022 13:31 UTC