Huge Dam Of Discord: Three African Countries Compete For Nile Waters
Nine years of hard work, investments of more than four billion dollars, three years to fill the artificial reservoir with water. These are some of the figures for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Hidase Power Plant) on the Nile, which will finally bring light to the homes of Ethiopia, where in the 21st century only half of the inhabitants have access to the electricity grid.
On Sunday, September 10, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced that the filling of the Hidase hydroelectric dam on the Nile has been completed. “With great pleasure I announce that the fourth and final (water) filling of the Renaissance Dam has been successfully completed,” Abiy Ahmed wrote in a post on the X social network (formerly Twitter).
The construction of the dam, originally commissioned to the Italian company Salini Impregilo SpA (now Webuild S.p.A.), has faced significant political tensions between Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan, which are located downriver from the Hidase hydroelectric dam and therefore fear that the large dam, seen as vital to Addis Ababa, will reduce their water quota from the Nile. Various countries, including the USA and Italy, have aspired to play a role as mediators in easing tensions in this regional African conflict. Negotiations between Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan resumed on August 27 after almost two and a half years of stalemate. But Cairo reacted very sharply to the statement by Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, saying that filling the dam basin was “unilateral and illegal.”
The “Dam of Discord” is 1.8 kilometers long and 145 meters high. It is located approximately 30 kilometers from the Ethiopia-Sudan border. The Hidase Dam was built on the so-called Blue Nile, which flows into the White Nile in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, before becoming the “real” Nile that then flows into the Mediterranean Sea between the Egyptian cities of Alexandria and Port Said.
The Hidase Dam has become the largest hydroelectric power station on the entire African continent. The artificial reservoir that took three years to fill occupies 1,874 square kilometers of land. The dam already began producing electricity in February 2022, and it is estimated that at full capacity its thirteen turbines could exceed 5,000 megawatts, doubling Ethiopia’s electricity production.
Addis Ababa says the dam will have a major positive effect on local agriculture, reducing flood risks in Sudan further north, and even increasing water availability for Egypt by significantly cutting evaporation from Lake Nasser. But Cairo continues to protest. According to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, Ethiopia’s announcement to fill the dam’s basin constitutes “ignoring the interests and rights of downstream countries and their water security.” Sudan has not yet commented on the Ethiopian government’s statement.