Administration plays down Egypt’s fear

(Saturday, 19 March 2011, Addis Ababa)- The Ethiopian government has played down the effect that a dam it is planning to build near the Sudanese border could have on lower Nile riparian sates, particularly Egypt and Sudan, labeling the fear as “unsubstantiated”.
 
Cairo fears that a cumulative effect could translate into much lower water levels downstream into Egypt.

Ethiopia, which is constructing dams in a backdrop of denigrations from the Egyptian government, has strengthened its plans after Burundi joined the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA), which seeks to ensure a new equitable water sharing that will end Egypt’s and Sudan’s colonial agreement made in 1929 and 1959.

So far, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi have signed the treaty, putting pressure on Egypt and Sudan, who alone utilize more than 90 percent of the waters of the Nile.

Briefing journalists on Wednesday, Ambassador Berhane Gebrekirstos, Minister of State in the Foreign Ministry, said his country’s plans to build the dam posed no harm to the lower riparian states - Egypt and Sudan.

“This is a power generation project that does not affect the water flow of the river,” he said.

Last week Prime Minister Meles Zenawi revealed the country’s plan to build a power plant in Benishangul Gumuz Regional State, located 40km from the Ethiopian Sudanese border.

Upon completion, the power plant will have an electric generation capacity of 5,000MW, 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.

Reports on al-ahram-online had indicated that Egypt is alarmed over the plans to construct more hydroelectric dams on the Nile, including a planned power plant, which is expected to generate more than 5,000 MW in the  Benishangul Gumuz Regional State.
Source:  Reporter