Page 41 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 14
P. 41

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
   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46