Future Directions said GERD was central to Ethiopia’s power plans but less catastrophic for Egypt than feared

On 13 June 2019 Future Directions International published Mervyn Piesse’s analysis of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, arguing that GERD was central to Ethiopia’s economic and political development strategy because it promised electricity for industry and greater control over Blue Nile flow.

The paper said Egypt’s water worries were real, yet Nile flow was already growing more erratic and Egypt’s food import dependence would deepen with or without the dam, while GERD’s power output was also unlikely to match the loftiest early Ethiopian claims or to harm Egypt as severely as some Egyptian officials had first feared.

Kept as water and geopolitics archive, the Future Directions paper dates a mid-2019 Australian strategic reading of GERD’s risks and limits.

Sources: Future Directions International