The Ethiopian Parliament's Standing Committee on Natural Resource, Irrigation and Energy Affairs reported the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Nile is on "good standing". The Standing Committee made the remark after visiting the status of the project.

Kifle Horo, the project's general manger, briefed the members of the committee on the progress of the project during their visit.

Mr. Kifle told the members of the committee about 70 percent of the works on the project is now complete. Works on units 9 and 10, the two turbines that were planned to generate power ahead of full completion of the project, are also progressing well, he said. Once they start operating in early 2021, the two turbines are expected to generate a total of 750MW of electricity

"The progress of the project is now promising," members of the committee said, expressing their satisfaction in how well the project is going now. Nevertheless, they went on to stress the need to address some problems raised by workers as well as questions for infrastructure and compensation by farmers.

Ethiopia has so far spent over 99 billion birr (well over $3.1 billion on current rate) on the GERD, which still needs an additional 40 billion birr (over $1.25 billion) for completion. The project is scheduled to be fully finished in 2023.

Source: FBC