Page 12 - AfrElec Week 18 2021

AfrElec HYDRO AfrElec

US envoy calls for breakthrough

in GERD dispute

ETHIOPIA THE US envoy for the Horn of Africa, Jeffrey how much water it releases downstream in case
Feltman, has called on Egypt, Sudan and Ethi- of a multi-year drought. The latest round of Afri-
opia to find a solution to their dispute over the can Union-brokered negotiations in April failed
Grande Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) to make progress.
project, which has threatened to destabilise rela- Egypt and Sudan argue that Ethiopia’s plan
tions between the three states. to add 13.5bn cubic metres of water in 2021 to
This week he toured the region, stressing that the dam’s reservoir on the Blue Nile is a threat
the US government was keen to settle the issue, to them.
which centres on water rights and dispute reso- Cairo and Khartoum have called for the US,
lution procedures, in order to avoid any military the UN and European Union to facilitate reach-
conflict. ing a legally binding deal on the dam’s filling and
Feltman met Egyptian President President operations. Ethiopia has rejected the call.
Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, who reiterated his warn- Egypt, which relies on the Nile for more than
ings that Cairo would not tolerate any moves by 90% of its water supplies, fears that the dam
Addis Ababa that could reduce Egypt’s share of would reduce its water resources.
water from the Nile because of the GERD, the Ethiopia claims says the $5bn dam, which
Associated Press reported. will also feature 5,000 MW of hydro capacity, is
El-Sissi said Egypt would not accept anyone essential to provide electricity to drive economic
“harming its water interests” and described the growth.
issue of the dam as “existential” to his country, Sudan has proposed that Ethiopia co-ordi-
urging the US to play “an effective role” in set- nates and shares data on the dam’s operation to
tling the dispute. avoid flooding and protect its own power-gener-
Feltman said that US President Joe Biden was ating dams on the Blue Nile, the main tributary
“serious in settling such a sensitive issue.” of the Nile.™
The dispute is now focused on how quickly
Ethiopia fills and replenishes the reservoir and

INFRASTRUCTURE

Tanzania, Kenya plan gas pipeline

TANZANIA THE governments of Tanzania and Kenya hope he said. The negotiations will cover design, cost
to work together to build a natural gas pipeline and other aspects of the project, he said.
along the coast of the Indian Ocean from Dar es Suluhu, for her part, told reporters that the
Salaam to Mombasa. parties aimed to start building the pipeline,
Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan which will pump gas from Tanzania northward
and her Kenyan counterpart, Uhuru Kenyatta, to Kenya, as soon as possible. Tanzanian and
made an announcement to this effect earlier Kenyan officials have been instructed to start
this week, following a meeting in Nairobi. They discussions on the project immediately, she said.
described the pipeline project as part of a wider “That is a long-term project, and we are thank-
long-term programme designed to help the ful that today we have signed an agreement, and
neighbouring countries share energy resources. what remains is implementation,” she remarked.
The conduit will be about 600 km long and will According to Kenyatta, the pipeline will allow
carry a price tag of around KES121bn ($1.12bn), Kenyan thermal power plants (TPPs) to use gas
they added. as fuel for generation. The increase in gas sup-
Kenyatta offered more details, saying at a plies will help bring down the cost of power in
press conference after the meeting that the two Kenya, while also reducing emissions, he added.
sides had signed a memorandum of under- During their meeting, the two presidents
standing (MoU) on co-operation in the area of also signed a package of MoUs on co-operation
gas transport. This document provides for the in other areas, including animal health and san-
energy ministers of both Kenya and Tanzania to itation, the arts, culture, national heritage and
negotiate with the aim of drawing up an agree- social integration.™
ment for construction of the proposed pipeline,

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 18 06•May•2021