The Egypt government on Monday said Ethiopia has rejected its plan for key aspects of operating a giant hydroelectric dam the East African nation is constructing on the Nile while claiming Ethiopia’s overtures were unfair and inequitable, reported Reuters.
In a statement released on Monday, the Egyptian Ministry of Irrigation said the two-day negotiation, which was held in Cairo and also included Sudan, appeared to be fruitless as the meetings did not touch on technical aspects of the $5bn Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
The statement said that Ethiopia’s delegation refused to discuss an Egyptian proposal on filling and operating what will be Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam.
As per the statement, the talks focused on procedural aspects and did not touch upon substantive issues because of Ethiopia’s refusal to discuss the proposal Egypt offered to the two countries.
The $4 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) was first announced back in 2011. It is expected to produce over 6,000 megawatts of electricity.
In January, Ethiopia’s water and energy minister said that following construction delays, the construction work on the dam would start by the end of 2020 and be fully operational by 2022.
While the dam promises economic benefits for Ethiopia and Sudan, Egypt is concerned that the construction of the GERD will restrict already stretched supplies from the Nile, which it uses for drinking water, agriculture, and industry. Notably, Ethiopia has rejected Egypt’s proposal over rules on the filling and operating of the dam.
The Egyptian Irrigation Ministry confirmed a meeting hosted by an independent scientific group would take place from September 30 to October 3 in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum to further discuss the Egyptian proposal for the rules of filling and operation of the dam.
“Then, the three ministers will meet again on October 4-5 to agree on the filling and operating rules,” the ministry added.
