Ethiopia may build 3 more dams: Egyptian water expert

CAIRO- 25 July 2020:  Ethiopia could head to build three more dams in case the controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)’s reservoir dam was filled with rainfall silt, Professor of Soil Sciences and Water Resources in the Faculty of Agriculture at Cairo University, Nader Noureldeen expected.

In media remarks on “Akher al-Nahar” on Al-Nahar T.V. channel on Friday, Noureldeen explained that water flows in the Blue Nile carries 136 million tons of silt, saying that this amount of silt is enough to fill the Renaissance Dam’s in 50 years.

In a mini-summit convened on Tuesday between the leaders of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, Addis Ababa announced that it completed the first phase of filling the dam’s reservoir with 4.9 billion cubic meters of water, despite the absence of any biding and legal final agreement between Ethiopia and the two other downstream countries [Egypt and Sudan].

Ethiopia’s Foreign Ministry explained on Thursday, according to Al-Arabiya net, that it only seeks to reach a ‘guiding agreement’, not binding regarding the GERD legal and technical aspects.

Since 2014, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan have entered into negotiations on the building of the dam to avoid any possible threats on the Nile downstream countries.

The conflict between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia 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 should not be negatively affected by the construction of the dam.

In October 2019, Egypt blamed Addis Ababa for hindering a final agreement over a technical problem, calling for activating Article No. 10 of the Declaration of Principles, which stipulates that if the three countries could not find a solution to these disputes, they have to ask for mediation.