Page 41 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 14

Leadership
LEADERSHIP

Amb Fitsum Arega Explains Why Ethiopian Dam is A

Matter of Life and Death for Ethiopia

By Lawrence Freeman, USA

This article was first pubished on July 17, 2021. View original publication
HERE

here is a great story dropower dam in Africa and when
unfolding in Africa. It is a completed it is expected to generate
story that literally throws more than 5,000 MW installed pow-
Tlight on what has been er generation capacity and will have
called, “The Dark Continent.” more than two times the capacity of
Hoover Dam.
In 2011, Ethiopia announced to
build a hydroelectric dam on its The total capacity of the reservoir
Abbay River, known to outsiders as is 74 billion cubic meters to be filled
the Blue Nile or Nile River. over several years. It will cost nearly Lawrence Freeman is a Political-Eco-
$5 billion to complete the dam. nomic Analyst for Africa, who has been in-
The dam was named the Grand volved in economic development policies for
Ethiopian Renaissance Dam The GERD has now reached 81 Africa for over 30 years. He is the creator of
(GERD) because it was designed percent completion that includes
to bring about the economic and 98.5 percent of civil, 55 percent of the blog: lawrencefreemanafricaandtheworld.
renewal of Ethiopia, a nation men- electromechanical, and 55.3 percent com. Mr. Freeman’s stated personal mission
tioned in Genesis 2:13 as the Land of the hydroelectric structure works. is; to eliminate poverty and hunger in Africa
in which the River Ghion (or Nile)
flows. As seen on the photo, the two water by applying the scientific economic principles of
tunnels have been completed and Alexander Hamilton.
The GERD will be the largest hy- started operating in April this year.

WWW.MSINGIAFRIKAMAGAZINE.COM ISSUE 14 | AUGUST 2021 41