According to official Sudanese sources, the Italian Salini company building the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam has completed 45 percent of the construction work, which allows for storing water in front of the dam in July, the beginning of the rainy season.
The sources explained that the first phase of the storage will reduce the water shares of Egypt and Sudan by 14 billion cubic meters over the next water year, which the two countries will bear equally according to the 1959 Convention.
According to the sources, the reduction is likely to affect Sudanese crops that rely on flooding in the Nile islands, as well as the electricity generated by the Roseires, Jabal al-Awliya and Sonar dams.
The sources pointed out that this year’s budget includes an electricity interconnection project between Khartoum and Addis Ababa, which confirms full coordination between the two countries despite ongoing negotiations about the dam.
They said Ethiopia is racing against time to finish building the first phase of the dam before the flood season obstructs the construction work, adding that this phase operates two turbines that have already been installed to produce 700 megawatts of electricity.
However, official sources at the Egyptian Irrigation Ministry said the turbines have not been installed yet, as the dam has not reached the minimum storage level, which means that storage would start sometime in 2016.
In a related development, Southern Sudan celebrated on Wednesday the receipt of Egyptian studies, aimed at building the first multi-purpose dam in the Western Bahr al-Ghazal state. South Sudanese officials have praised President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for meeting his promise in this regard.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
