Ethiopian controversial dam to be inaugurated by September 2025: Abiy Ahmed

CAIRO – 21 March 2025: Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced, on Thursday, that the controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) will be inaugurated by the next Ethiopian new year, due to start in September 2025.

The Ethiopian News Agency (ENA) reported that the Prime Minister, during a questioning before the parliament, announced the inauguration of the dam will be by September.

Ethiopia is going to inaugurate the historic Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) by the start of the coming new Ethiopian Year.https://t.co/ElSf4d0H8S#gerd#nileriver#Ethiopia #Egypt

— Ethiopia News Agency (@EthiopianNewsA) March 20, 2025

“Furthermore, he underscored the significance of positive discussions with Egypt, adding that Ethiopia will continue to work together with Egyptians for the benefit of the two countries and people,” the ENA said.

The crisis between the three Nile basin countries dates back to May 2011 when Ethiopia started building the dam; Egypt voiced concern over its water share [55.5 billion cubic meters]. Three years later, a series of tripartite talks between the two countries along with Sudan began to reach an agreement while Ethiopia continued the dam construction. 

In 2015, the three countries signed the Declaration of Principles, per which the downstream countries [Egypt and Sudan] should not be negatively affected by the construction of the dam. In October 2019, Egypt blamed Addis Ababa for hindering a final agreement concerning a technical problem, calling for activating the Article No. 10 of the Declaration of Principles, which stipulates that if the three countries could not find a solution to these differences, they have to ask for mediation. 

Despite Egypt’s repeated rejections, Ethiopia has continued its unilateral acts and filled the reservoir of its dam annually without going back to Egypt or Sudan.

Additional reporting by Samar Samir