Egypt plans for dam alternative in disputed area
Now that negotiations over the Renaissance Dam project have failed, Egypt wants to build a separate dam in the Shalateen area to compensate for the country’s water loss.
CAIRO — Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry visited Ethiopia on Dec. 26 in an attempt to resume technical negotiations and break the deadlock on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
According to a statement issued by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Egypt called on the World Bank to intervene as a neutral technical mediator in the technical committee studying the impacts of the GERD construction.
In a somewhat related development, Egypt’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation had announced Dec. 9 that it would build a dam in Wadi Hodein, in the Red Sea governorate’s Shalateen area, to benefit from rainwater and floods.
Observers saw this move as vital and indispensable to address the damage caused by the construction of the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and to avoid any expected water shortage crises.
