(May 31, 2012, (CNN)--The waters of the Blue Nile have for millennia flowed down from the Ethiopian highlands enriching the countries on its banks. The rocks that make up its riverbed have been eroded by Ethiopia's past and now that the construction of Africa's largest hydro-electric dam has begun, these same rocks are helping to build the country's future.
The Grand Renaissance Dam project was announced last year by the Ethiopian government, in a unilateral move that is not sitting very well with its upstream neighbors. Egypt and Sudan say Ethiopia is threatening their greatest natural resource.
What's undisputed though is the sheer size of this undertaking close to Ethiopia's border with Sudan. "It's not very easy to build a project of this magnitude in a remote area," explains Francesco Verdi, who oversees this project for Salini, the Italian construction firm that has been contracted by the Ethiopians to build the dam.
According to Verdi, 10% of the dam has been completed so far and teams are working day and night to stay on schedule. "This is one of the largest dams in the world," Verdi says. "The effort of this country is really, really impressive. They will produce clean energy using natural resources."
If construction stays on schedule the dam will be complete in six years. Ethiopia says the dam will generate 6,000 mega watts of electricity and it will sell a proportion of that to its neighbors and use the rest to fuel its own growth.
Semegnew Bekele is the Ethiopian engineer in charge of overseeing this mammoth project. He has worked on three other dams in Ethiopia, but this will be his and his country's first attempt at damming the Blue Nile. "This Nile river originates from our country and flows without giving any benefit to us so now we are able to utilize this river," he explains. Read more from CNN »
What's undisputed though is the sheer size of this undertaking close to Ethiopia's border with Sudan. "It's not very easy to build a project of this magnitude in a remote area," explains Francesco Verdi, who oversees this project for Salini, the Italian construction firm that has been contracted by the Ethiopians to build the dam.
According to Verdi, 10% of the dam has been completed so far and teams are working day and night to stay on schedule. "This is one of the largest dams in the world," Verdi says. "The effort of this country is really, really impressive. They will produce clean energy using natural resources."
If construction stays on schedule the dam will be complete in six years. Ethiopia says the dam will generate 6,000 mega watts of electricity and it will sell a proportion of that to its neighbors and use the rest to fuel its own growth.
Semegnew Bekele is the Ethiopian engineer in charge of overseeing this mammoth project. He has worked on three other dams in Ethiopia, but this will be his and his country's first attempt at damming the Blue Nile. "This Nile river originates from our country and flows without giving any benefit to us so now we are able to utilize this river," he explains. Read more from CNN »
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