Finally – Team of Experts to Evaluate Impact of Massive Ethiopian Dam

Two articles... While we are hopeful that this team will lead to more
info on the huge project, but we have also learned that heavy
equipment has been moved to the site to begin construction.... Never
good when construction starts before a project's impacts are known!

http://www.greenprophet.com/2011/12/evaluate-impact-ethiopias-dam/

Finally � A Team of Experts to Evaluate Impact of Massive Ethiopian Dam

Tafline Laylin | December 27th, 2011
The politics surrounding Ethiopia�s Grand Millennium Renaissance Dam
changes only slightly more frequently than the project�s name, and we
are excited to bring you one of the most positive updates since the
saga began. Ethiopia has being posturing against Egypt�s historical
monopoly of the Nile river�s waters for months, even though the
country lacks the funds to see a potentially environmentally
destructive 5,250MW dam to completion without help.

Loyal Ethiopians unaffected by urging from UNESCO to halt another dam
contract awarded to a similar consortium of cronies accused us time
and again of turning a blind eye to their distressing energy poverty.
But that was never the case. We have always advocated for a fair
distribution of the Nile river, as well as for a thorough
investigation of the project�s potential environmental impact. We may
finally have received our wish, but it�s probably not as altruistic as
it seems.

According to our friends at Almasry Alyoum, Egypt�s Foreign Minister
Mohamed Kamel Amr will take a tour of six Nile Basic countries in the
second week of January.

Nile Basin Coordinator Maddy Amer said in a statement that solving the
Nile river issue is top priority for the country that is still
struggling under the weight of political mayhem.

Amer added that while Egypt has not changed its position on the Nile
dam, it won�t accept an Ethiopian solution that jeopardizes either
Sudan or Egypt, and that Ethiopia has to cooperate if it hopes to
receive any funding.

If the dispute over Nile waters has not been settled, then aid groups
will be unwilling to put forth financial assistance.

Impartial assessment

But the most promising development we�ve seen is the commitment from
Addis Ababa, Cairo, and Khartoum to finally prepare a technical
report that evaluates the potential impact of Ethiopia�s Grand
Renaissance Dam.

6 experts � two from Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan � will choose an
additional 4 international experts to help them conduct a year long
study that is expected to start as soon as next month.

The team of 10 experts should be able to produce an impartial
scientific document which lays out exactly what is at stake if the dam
is allowed to continue � without favoring any one country.

One hopes that up and downstream ecological consequences will be
considered, as well as the potential effects that climate change will
have in the future.

Ethiopia needs power, everyone needs water, but there must be a way to
accomplish this without hasty planning. This recent news gives us hope
that finally this dispute is taking a constructive, diplomatic turn.

:: Almasry Alyoum

http://www.heavyliftpfi.com/content/NewsItem.aspx?id=3725Grand Success
for Steder Group

December 29 - Steder Group FZE, Djibouti, a member of the Worldwide
Project Consortium (WWPC), recently completed the transport of five
large pieces of earthmoving equipment from Djibouti Port to the Grand
Renaissance Dam project in western Ethiopia, writes Charlotte Matheson.
A distance of around 1,800 km was covered in about three weeks and
road conditions were occasionally extremely tough which meant that
only 25 km could be covered in a day.

The convoy transported two wheel-loaders both weighing 72 tonnes, two
excavators of 65 tonnes in weight and a dump truck of 50 tonnes. This
equipment will be used on the construction of the dam itself.

The Grand Renaissance Dam, formerly known as the Millennium Dam and
also referred to as Hidase Dam, is a gravity dam under construction on
the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia about 40 km east of Sudan. At 5,250
MW, the dam will be the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa
when completed, as well as the tenth largest in the world.
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