Ethiopia has begun
concrete filling of the middle part of its Grand Renaissance Dam as it prepares
to generate power from Africa’s biggest dam late next year.
The partly built
middle part of the dam has long been unfilled due to delays in the electro-mechanical
works of the dam.
CEO of the
Ethiopian Electric Power Dr. Abrham Belay stated that the concrete filling of
the middle part of the dam and construction of the saddle dam had started and
would be completed in two months.
According to
government’s schedule, the dam will begin generating 750 MW of electricity from
two turbines by the end of 2020, when its construction reaches the height of
560 m above sea level.
According to the
CEO, the construction of the dam is going well and metal works for the two
power stations for the two turbines is half completed.
Early this year,
the government-owned Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) company entered into
contractual agreement with German, Italian and French companies after the
military-run Metal and Engineering Corporation (METC), which was accused of
embezzling billions of dollars allocated to the project, failed to do so.
The civil work on
the dam, which is being under taken by Italian company Salini Impregilo, has
reached more than 85% completion whilst the electro-mechanical works,
undertaken by METEC, have reportedly reached 30% completion, far below the
target level for this time.
GERD – on the Blue
Nile River in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region — will be a 145 m height and 1,780 m
length roller-compacted-concrete dam that will create a reservoir with a
capacity of 70 km3. The dam will have a total of 16 Francis
turbine-generating units.
The height of the
left and right sides of the main dam has reached 145 m above sea level and the
middle part will be filled to the same height in the following months, Abrham
said.
According to the
CEO, the construction of the dam is 68.3% complete and will fully be finalised
in under four years.
Recently, Ethiopia
rejected a proposal tabled by Egypt regarding the filling process of dam
reservoir. It said the proposal contradicted previous deal reached between the
three countries, including Sudan.
Ethiopia’s Prime
Minister Dr Abiy Ahmed said finalising the dam according to the set timeline is
his government’s key priority.
Located in Benishangul Gumuz regional state, approximately 500 km North West of the capital Addis Ababa, GERD will be the largest dam in Africa and will be generating of 6,450 MW after completion.https://www.ezega.com/News/NewsDetails/7264/Ethiopia-Begins-Filling-Concrete-in-the-Middle-Part-of-Grand-Renaissance-Dam
