Hailu Ayele is serving as mechanical engineer in a private company in Addis Ababa. He said the issue of the Grand Renaissance Dam (GERD) has been the talk of the country, since its foundation laid by the late PM in 2011. According to him, it was considered to be impossible by the folks when the news of laying the corner stone for the mega project was released by various media houses. The reason is that, first, billions of Birr project is not typical to Ethiopia and Ethiopians before the start of the Dam. Second, contributing many billions of Birr seemed to start a Sisyphean task for many individuals.
Let alone contribution and participation of the greater public, according to him, it seemed unworkable to erect a dam as big as the GERD at the time when the dam was started. Because, the song, the folklore and everything, that narrates about the Blue Nile of Ethiopia was and is of impossibility, inability and distanced memory, but things have changed since then bit by bit but sure to become groundbreaking.
However, he said, in time, everything has been radically changed and people have changed their obsolete and entrenched attitude about the titular invincibility of the Blue Nile and now everyone believes that Ethiopia has the capacity to undertake any mega project by its own people and financial contribution. Now things have progressed beyond imagination and the construction is soon to be a reality; people are eagerly contributing their own money in kind and in cash.
At first, Hailu said it was very difficult to draw the attention of the Ethiopians in the Diaspora towards the project for they were entangled with various anti-Ethiopia propaganda and opposition. Now, every trace of opposition about the GERD has been fading away and every Diaspora has started to contribute its own pence. Look, the Project has started to transcend temporary political agenda and profit-seeking mentality. Now, all Ethiopians are standing in unison for the lofty aim of finalizing the GERD and employing it for electrification purposes.
As an omen of fruition, currently, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia has announced to collect the fruit of bonds whose maturity time has ripened. It said the bonds that were purchased at the beginning have now ripened. Now, individuals who were hesitant at the beginning are very much happy to collect the amount of share they granted to the GERD via respective offices. But most are willing to take only the dividend and let the share run active in the bank.
In the opinion of the writer, most Ethiopians at home and abroad are backing the endeavor of their country to finalize the GERD and enhance poverty alleviation efforts; except Eng. Asfaw Beyene, one Ethiopian `mercenary` Diaspora holed up in San Diego University, America. This individual has been vehemently criticizing and opposing the construction in the name of superb mechanical engineering and scholarly integrity.
Until now, while many are changing their minds to support the project, he is adamantly opposing the construction that the Dam could not sustainably produce as much as 6000 MW, let alone 6450 MW. Even, he boldly goes further down to liken the dam to a defunct and abandoned project in Chile, a project he said the engineers regretted for constructing, without meticulously experimenting about the water discharge of the river on which it is constructed.
Now, he is arrogantly suggesting that the potential of the dam has to be reduced down to 2000 MW based on the annual discharge of Nile. I suspect he might have been sponsored by anti-Ethiopian development effort like International Network of Rivers and Egyptians themselves, for speaking up their mind and advocating anti-GERD campaigns on their behalf. Some called him a conspirator (traitor and Shumbash, while it has been long since the Italians have been kicked out disgracefully).
Needless to say, GERD is Africa's largest hydro dam project is well in progress. It would generate 6,450 MW up on finalization and currently 66 percent of the project is complete. The construction of the hydro project is going well and is expected to start partial test power generation soon.
The Project is a major part of a massive energy infrastructure project. Ethiopian is undertaking construction of the GERD with the aim to see the country's power generation capacity increase from the current 4,280 MW to 17,300 MW by 2020.
Ethiopian has embarked on realizing massive electrification projects across the country with a view to make itself power hub of east Africa, accelerate expansion of light industries and become a middle-income economy by 2025.
GERD has been billed as a landmark project signaling Ethiopia's renaissance. Its foundation was laid in April 2011. And it is being built at a cost of 4.7 billion U.S. dollars, fully financed from domestic resources. Upon completion it is expected to have a reservoir with a total of 74 billion cubic meters of water.
As its name suggests, the GERD is not just mere a infrastructure project, but it is also considered as flag carrier project and a motto about Ethiopia’s vision and commitment to its development. From the onset, the construction was financed by neither international finance institutions nor donor countries, but by bonds purchased by the greater public at home and abroad.
The GERD is hardly Ethiopia’s first hydropower mega project-the country has honed its skill with numerous earlier projects, including the Gilgel Gibe I, II, and III dams on the Gilgel Gibe and Omo Rivers in the southern Ethiopia (the dam is its most significant undertaking to date and will be Africa’s biggest electric power producer and the seventh largest in the world).
By providing a constant supply of clean and affordable power to the country, the GERD has the potential to accelerate Ethiopia’s transformation from a largely agricultural economy to an industrial powerhouse. In addition, the GERD will have cross-regional benefit to the wider region. The extensive transmission lines, many of which are already in place, connecting Ethiopia with Sudan, Djibouti, and Kenya will make power available to these neighbors.
With the potential to produce even more power from the abundant water flows from its highlands, Ethiopia will be in the position to meet a large part of the energy needs of Sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa through cheaply and cleanly generated electricity.
Moreover, the completed dam’s promise of regulated water throughout the year will be a boon to neighboring Sudan’s agricultural potential, especially in the Gezira region south of Khartoum, between the confluence of the Blue Nile and the White Nile (the area hitherto has been subject to an annual flood followed by harsh dry seasons), as well as increasing the energy the downstream country will be able to produce with its existing hydropower installations.
However, this is not to say that Egypt is not expressing the possibility that the dam would result in a diminution of the amount of water it has historically taken from the Nile under a pair of colonial-era treaties that Ethiopia was never a party to, declaring that the river was “a matter of life and death” for Egypt and that “no one can touch Egypt’s share of the water”.
The challenge between the apparent conflict of interests of two of Africa’s oldest and present states could be solved with win-win resolution. A guiding principle for such a resolution is already contained in the Cooperation Framework Agreement (CFA) that six countries in the Nile Basin (Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda) have signed: “Nile Basin States shall in their respective territories utilize the water resources of the Nile River system and the Nile River Basin in an equitable and reasonable manner’’.
Despite the fathomless challenges and Egypt’s colonial stance, Ethiopia has been assertively insisting to continue constructing the GERD. Currently, 66 % of the construction is completed and it is being undertaken around-the-clock.
Ethiopia and Ethiopians believe the project is a life and death issue to itself, too. The most ironic matter is that Ethiopia is a country that feeds the Nile and it could not feed its people, though Ethiopia’s agriculture and overall economic growth is improving with time. Now high time has come for It to have its fair share of the Nile water and satisfy the need of its people.
Waiting to see the actualization of their flagship project soon, Ethiopians have been incessantly and earnestly making supports over the past seven years. School children and elders, farmers, members of the security forces and religious fathers, merchants and Ethiopians in the Diaspora have all been unanimously backing the project with their knowledge, finance, material, and labor.
They all vowed to continue their support till their grand national dream- GERD becomes a reality. This is in fact what was ascertained by the public during the various ceremonies held as part of the 7th year anniversary of the commencement of GERD. The Grand Renaissance Dam is the symbol of unity, the pillar and glory of our Renaissance. It has continued to attract huge public backing. And Ethiopians at home and in the Diaspora have immensely increased their engagement and the Project is becoming a symbol of unity, Renaissance and success.