(ANSA-AFP) – ADDIS ABABA, 12 AUG – Ethiopia has declared that it has completed the third filling of the dam of the Great Ethiopian Renaissance (Gerd) on the Blue Nile, a 4.2 billion dollar project whose construction involves the group Italian industrial Webuild (formerly Salini Impregilo), with a move that could increase tensions with Egypt and Sudan, downstream of the river. The announcement comes one day after the start of electricity production from the dam’s second turbine.
“Today, as you can see behind me, the third fill is complete,” Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said in images shown on state television from Gerd’s website.
“The Nile is a gift from God that was given to us for the Ethiopians to enjoy,” he added.
The dam, destined to become Africa’s largest hydroelectric power station, has been at the center of a regional dispute since 2011, the year in which the project got underway. Cairo and Khartoum, in fact, consider it an existential threat due to their dependence on the waters of the Nile, while Ethiopia considers it essential for their own development. Last month, Egypt took to the UN Security Council its protests against Addis Ababa’s unscheduled third filling of the dam, but Abiy, while calling for negotiations to reach an agreement, said the third filling is not causing any kind of water shortage downstream of the Nile.
(ANSA-AFP).
Source: Ansa
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