Ethiopia Inaugurates Africa’s Largest Hydroelectric Dam

Ethiopia, a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, on Tuesday, inaugurated the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), the largest hydropower project in Africa.

The inauguration, held near the dam in the Northwestern Benishangul-Gumuz region, marked the project’s official completion after 14 years. In attendance were senior Ethiopian officials, African leaders and representatives from the African Union and other international organisations, including African Union Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Kenyan President William Ruto, Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir.

The GERD project, expected to generate 5,150 megawatts of electricity, and at a capacity that would make Ethiopia the largest hydropower exporter in Africa, began in 2011 on the Blue Nile River near the Sudanese border.

Speaking at the event of the $4.8 billion project, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed stated that the dam’s potential is to strengthen the national economy by providing stable energy for industry, improving livelihoods and advancing regional energy integration.

Congratulations to all Ethiopians, both at home and abroad, as well as to our friends around the world, on the historic inauguration of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam,” he said.

It is noteworthy, however, that while China’s Exim Bank provided approximately $1.8 billion in financing for turbines and other electromechanical equipment. The main civil works of the dam were funded domestically. The Italian contractor, Salini Impregilo (now Webuild), was paid for its construction service domestically by the Ethiopian government and its citizens.

While the dam project, a 475-foot-high structure designed for a total water storage capacity of 74 billion cubic metres, has long been a source of tension among the three Nile-bound countries of Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan, the latter two fear the dam will reduce their water share.

Nonetheless, Addis Ababa has maintained that the project will not harm the two downstream countries.

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Mayowa Durosinmi

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M. Durosinmi is a West Africa Weekly investigative reporter covering Politics, Human Rights, Health, and Security in West Africa and the Sahel Region

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