Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Thursday said Ethiopia will postpone the water filling of the 5,250 Mega-Watts (MW) Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) project for two months to ease Egyptian and Sudanese concerns.
Presenting the 2022/2023 end of year report to the Ethiopian parliament, Abiy said the scheduled filling of the GERD reservoir which was supposed to happen this month will be postponed until mid-September.
Abiy told parliamentarians the decision was taken to address the concern of the lower riparian Nile basin countries, Egypt and Sudan.
The Ethiopian Prime Minister further said the water filling for the mega hydro dam project will be done in a manner that doesn’t reduce water from Ethiopia, but also at the same time responds to the wants of Sudan and Egypt.
“Even though we received extensive rainfall this season, we’re undertaking this action so our brothers won’t get distressed, obtain what they merit and for them to understand Ethiopia’s only wish is to develop in a responsible way,” PM Abiy said in parliament.
Ethiopia started construction on the 5,250 MW GERD dam in April 2011 in the country’s western Benishangul-Gumuz region.
The hydro dam project which Ethiopian government claims is currently more than 90 percent complete has aroused concerns from Sudan and Egypt that it may reduce their resprctive Nile river basin water shares. Around 86 percent of all Nile river basin waters originate in Ethiopia.
