Ethiopia Moves Forward with Hydro Project

Ethiopia is preparing to move forward with its plans to build Africa’s largest hydropower plant. The government has selected Italian firm Salini Construttori Spa to undertake the $5 billion project.

 

The Renaissance Dam, formerly known as the Great Millennium Dam, will be constructed on the Nile River just 40 km from the border of Sudan. It is estimated that the hydro project will eventually produce 5,250 MW of electricity with the first 700 MW due to come online by 2015.

 

The Ethiopian government plans to fund the entire project, citing difficulties in sourcing money
from multilateral banks for its dam projects in the past, the Addis Fortune newspaper reported.

 

The dam is certain to cause problems with neighbors along the Nile River to the north, Sudan and Egypt. The Ethiopian government announced its plans for the damn in March of this year while Egypt and Sudan were wrangling over rights to the Nile.

 

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