Renaissance Dam 30% Complete: Ethiopian Official

Thirty percent of Ethiopia’s Renaissance dam is complete, project leader Semegnew Bekele has said.

Construction is progressing according to schedule, he added in comments reported by Aswat Masryia.

The project has been a source of concern for the Egyptian government since May last year, when images of the dam’s construction stirred public anxiety about its possible effects on Egypt’s share of the Nile’s water.

However, Bekele insisted the dam would serve Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia.

Minister of Irrigation Mohamed Abdel-Motteleb told Al-Ahram daily newspaper that Egypt may send an official statement demanding construction of the dam be halted until a mutually agreeable solution is found.

Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan formed a tripartite technical committee to study the possible effects of the dam.

But the committee’s discussions were thwarted last December when Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir announced his support for the dam during a meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.

Egypt has demanded that Ethiopia submit the dam’s construction plans for assessment by international experts.

Ethiopian Irrigation Minister Alamayo Tegno said his country was already committed to the recommendations of an international committee of experts.

According to Walta information, an Ethiopian website, there are 7,500 workers and 500 experts from 25 countries working on the project.