---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Ashworth <[email protected]> Date: Tue, Mar 15, 2011 at 12:48 PM Subject: [sudan-john-ashworth] Fw: Ethiopia to build dam on Blue Nile To: Group <[email protected]>
Ethiopia to build dam on Blue Nile near Sudan border By Tesfa-Alem Tekle March 14, 2011 (ADDIS ABABA) – Ethiopia is set to launch construction of a massive hydroelectric dam in its Nile basin near its border with Sudan, the country’s Prime Minister has announced. The planned power plant Ethiopia’s Benishangul state will be 40km from the Sudanese border. "We are planning to carry out a number of important projects, including a major project on the Nile," Ethiopian Prime minister Meles Zenawi told the press. Upon completion, the power plant will have an electric generation capacity of 6,000MW, three times more than the combined capacity of all Ethiopia’s existing dams. Expected to take at least five years to complete, the dam is one of three the Horn of Africa nation plans to begin building before mid 2011. Three other power plants, which have been under construction in the past few years, are expected to become functional in 2011. Last month Fortune, an Ethiopian newspaper, reported that construction on the dam on the Blue Nile has already begun. It also said that it was awarded to Italian multinational Salini Costruttori, the same Italian construction company that built the Gilgel Gibe II and Tana Beles dams. Almost all Ethiopia’s dams lie either in the Nile River basin or on the Omo River. The Blue Nile, which begins in Ethiopia, meets the White Nile in Sudan’s capital Khartoum. Both the Blue Nile and Omo River are shared with Ethiopia’s neighbors but do not have international water sharing agreements. However, Ethiopia does participate in the Nile Basin Initiative, a forum for dialogue with the other Nile basin countries. Sudan and Egypt are the notable absentees from the initiative. Egypt claims that a colonial era agreement giving it the lion’s share of the Nile’s water is still valid. (ST) END ______________________ John Ashworth Sudan Advisor Sudan Ecumenical Forum [email protected] +254 725 926 297 (Kenya mobile) +249 919 695 362 (Sudan mobile) +27 82 853 3556 (South Africa mobile) +44 750 304 1790 (UK/international) +88 216 4334 0735 (Thuraya satphone) PO Box 52002 - 00200, Nairobi, Kenya This is a personal e-mail address and the contents do not necessarily reflect the views of any organisation -- The content of this message does not necessarily reflect John Ashworth's views. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, John Ashworth is not the author of the content and the source is always cited. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sudan-john-ashworth" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.co.za/group/sudan-john-ashworth -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "JFD info" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/jfdinfo?hl=en.
