The Ethiopian government is planning to build a 1060 MW hydro-power plant in the Baro-Akobo River Basin. The Ministry of Water and Energy has awarded a US$1.5 million contract for the pre-feasibility and feasibility study of the Tams Hydro-power Project to the state-owned Water Works Design and Supervision Enterprise (WWDSE) and the Italian, Electro Consult (ELC).

The proposed dam site is located between the town of Bonga and the town of Gambella,  which are 449km Southwest and 766km West of Addis Ababa respectively.

WWDSE and Electro Consult have worked together previously collaborated in the supervision and design of the Ethio-Kenya transmission line installation project with a German-based firm. ELC has also undertaken the feasibility study of the dam project for Wolkait Sugar Project, supervision of Gilgel Gibe II and Tana Beles hydroelectric projects and currently it is supervising the hydroelectric projects of Gibe III and Grand Renaissance Dam projects.

In a related news, Ministry of Water and Energy has awarded WWDSE a 23.2 million birr contract for the feasibility and design study of the Upper Guder and Dabus large scale irrigation projects in the Abay basin.

Source: Walta