In April 2019 Construction Review reported that deputy water minister Frehiwot Woldehana said Ethiopia planned to commission the Chinese-built Genale Dawa III hydropower project and an Ethiopia–Kenya electricity transmission line in the second half of 2019.
The projects sat inside Addis Ababa’s light-manufacturing hub story: power for industrial parks, export corridors, and forex that never quite matched the megaproject press releases.
Hydropower remains Ethiopia’s backbone and its rainfall anxiety. Commissioning dates are easy to announce. Grid reliability, resettlement, and debt terms decide whether a dam is development or just another ribbon.
Kept as energy archive, Genale Dawa III marks another checkpoint in Abiy Ahmed’s early infrastructure branding. Steam and turbines are facts. Who pays, and who sits in the dark, is politics.
Sources: Construction Review