Ethiopia assigned Kifle Horo (Engineer) as the new project manager of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). After the death of Simegnew Bekelle (Engineer), Ephrem Weldekidan (Engineer) led the project as a manager. Now, he is appointed to serve as a deputy project manager together with Fikadu Kebede.

Before joining the project of GERD, Kifle had served at Ethiopian Electric Power as power sector consultant and advisor for project management.

GERD is located approximately 500 km north west of the capital Addis Ababa, in the region of Benishangul - Gumuz along the Blue Nile. At the end of the works, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will be the largest dam in Africa: 1,800 m long, 155 m high and with a total volume of 74,000 million m³.

The project involves the construction of a main dam in Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC), with 2 power stations installed at the foot of the dam. The power stations are positioned on the right and left banks of the river and comprise 16 Francis turbines with a total installed power of 6,000 MW and estimated production of 15,000 GWh per year. The project is completed by a 15,000 m3/s capacity concrete spillway and a rockfill saddle dam 5 km long and 50m high, both located on the left bank.

Source Ethiopian News Agency and Salini's Official Website https://www.salini-impregilo.com/en/projects/in-progress/dams-hydroelectric-plants-hydraulic-works/grand-ethiopian-renaissance-dam-project.html