Ethiopia’s largest hydropower plant has resumed operations after 11 months since its collapse. The Gibe II came online January 15, but on February 5 the dam suffered from the collapse of a water passage tunnel.
The Gilegel Gibe II dam, 250 km south of Addis Ababa, is expected to produce 420 MW of electricity. The Italian government provided €220 million for the dam in the form of a loan and the building work was carried out by Italian firm Salini Construction.
The country’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi had initially said that the Gibe II would be back online in two months,panerai luminor 1950 10 days gmt replica but Salini was unable to meet the high costs for repairs. Salini relinquished work on the Gibe III to Chinese firm Dongfang, possibly because of funding problems based upon the Gibe II’s collapse.
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