Some of the machinery ordered by the Ethiopian government for the building of the Renaissance Dam started arriving in Port Djibouti. The machines that arrived at Port of Djibouti and are ready for transport were imported primarily from the United States and Italy.

A couple of US made Caterpillar family trucks, (990) at a cost of 1.5 million dollars each and Italian Astra machinery (including RD 40 and RD 50) at a cost of 250,00 euros each are currently at Port Djibouti awaiting transport to the project site. The imported machinery consists of bulldozers, dumpers, rollers, graders as well as other heavy duty machines to be utilized in the construction of the Dam said Mr. Pierre Kothari, Agent for Salini Contractors in Djibouti, on Wednesday.

The machines being imported are the latest and best of their kind added Mr Kothari. The Salini representative asked that the Customs Authority and other involved agencies to assist in the speedy transport of the machines to the project site.

The imported machinery is expected to play an important in the construction of the dam as well as other projects across the country according to Engineer Semgnew Bekele, Manager of the dam construction project.

After the completion of the Great Renaissance Dam the Ethiopian government is planning to construct other dams on the Nile as part of produce 20,000 megawatts of power within the next ten years part of a plan to spend 12 billion dollars over 25 years to raise power generating capability.

Source : Ethiopian Herald