 official inauguration ceremony eve at the project site. Abiy Ahmed and his officials... Read more.){kind=link}
Borkena
Toronto – An event organized for the eve of Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) official inauguration just a few days before the Ethiopian New Year.
Video footage Fana Broadcasting Corporate,state media, aired shows Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and members of his government at the project’s site in Guba. The event was well over two hours long.
Former Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegne and former deputy prime minister, and foreign affairs minister are also in attendance.
The Ethiopian government has invited several heads of states and other officials from multilateral institutions. Borkena reporters based in Addis Ababa reported that the presidents of Djibouti and Kenya have confirmed attendance for the September 9 event. They will be flying to the project site from Addis Ababa. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia did not make any other disclosure.
Ethiopian government officials recently made claims that about 15,000 people were killed in the course of building the project ; related to security incidents and accidents.
However, officials of the construction company who worked in the safety department for more than 10 years seem to dismiss the claim, based on a BBC Amharic report.
The number of people killed in work-related and security-related incidents is not more than 100.
GERD, which is said to be the largest hydro-electric dam in Africa, took more than 14 years to complete. Initially, it was planned to be completed within five years. However, financial issues and technical problems, among other things, have delayed it.
Engineer Kifle Horo, who was appointed as Chief Project Manager in October 2018 following the assassination of Engineer Simegnew Bekele, this week told state media that the project incurred over 460 million Euro in externalities.
It was incurred because of a poor civil and mechanical engineering performance before he took over the project. The overall cost of the project is over $ 5 billion birr. The project was financed from local sources.
The dam is expected to generate over 5000 MW of power. Initially, the plan was to install about 16 turbines. But later the government downsized it. In terms of water holding capacity, the first plan was for the reservoir to hold over 84 billion cubic meters of water. However, it does not appear to be the case that it is holding that amount of water.
Video : embedded from Fana Broadcasting Corporate YouTube channel
Cover photo : Screenshot from the video
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Who are those Europeans in the picture?
To All of You My Dear Ethiopians Wherever You Are!
I congratulate you on this monumental achievement. It is all yours you built with the last red cent in your pockets including with your Allah gave you lives. I am sure you will make a good use of every watt that will be generated by every turbine for decades and even possibly centuries. There was another day that gave us the respect from what our forefathers achieved and left for us to celebrate every year and that day was the Victory at Adwa. This one is the 2nd one. Congratulations!!!!
Ittu! enkuan abro aderesen!!
Very big achievement thanks to the current Gov’t in Ethiopia. A huge milestone!
I am sure you remember Nazret.com , ASH, HOPE AND ADDIS ABABA SEFERE AND etc lots of people opposed this project when Meles started the project, their excuse was ”we need freedom first”
I wrote at the time, Meles will not take this huge dam with him when God call him one way or the other. As expected Meles and his corrupted crew are no longer in the picture, but the dam is completed and added a huge value to Ethiopia, Thank you Dr Abiy, you are just special gift for Ethiopia. I just want to wish for all politicians in Ethiopia or Diaspora to learn how to grade someone or something honestly without being prejudiced. Understand bipartisan actions when you come to important things for the country instead of opposing everything just because..
Happy New Year!!!
Teddy.
Yes I remember the website Nazret.com that folded down a few years ago. It was wrought with comments that were so undesirable. But I really missed it because it used to keep up with the latest. They were several others that dissipated into thin air without even saying good bye. I hope those who created and manage them are ok.
Keep savoring the moment. It is a huge and noble achievement. I do. Now, the current and future governments should know how to protect it both from domestic and foreign Ethiopia haters.
Blessings!
1). Happy GERD Day & Happy New Year: Congratulations Ethiopians! You did it against all odds! What a Monumental Achievement & Historic Milestone! Thanks!
2). Here are two of the most Extraordinary Ethiopians who made all this possible:
(i). Child Semira: youtu.be/PzXMp8JBAoc
(ii). Woizero Asselefetch: youtu.be/uzWYerYqsJg
3). Watch this African lady’s coverage of the GERD: youtu.be/K26Yc45TtPc?t=1
4). አቤቱታ እና ይግባኝ:-
i). Nigat Lake vs. Lake Ethiopia: I prefer Lake Ethiopia!
ii). Adey Abeba Stadium vs. Ethiopia Stadium: I prefer Ethiopia Stadium!
iii). Ethiopia Square: Erect Ethiopia’s statue [like the Statue of Liberty] at the Mesqel Square Junction [Bolé to Palace & Mesqel Square to Bambis] that serves as traffic light.
5). 100 vs. 15,000: The 100 seem work accident related while the 15K is Dam Security related. Egypt/Sudan-backed armed groups staged countless attempts to disrupt the GERD’s construction [including attacking convoys accompanying materials for GERD].
For me, the inauguration of this dam is doubly satisfying. When I was a student in the 1960’s in the Middle East, Nasser must have gotten the wind drifting from Addis that the late Emperor was having his engineers and a foreign company taking surveys for a possibility of a dam on the Nile at the current site. I later found out that a detailed survey was done there on the current site but the Emperor was not able to source out and secure outside funding for the project. There was uproar in the media and in the palace of Nasser. Then one of my classmates started telling me how Egypt’s defense forces were invincible that Field Marshall Hakim will only need to send one or two of his jets to wipe the emperor and his people from the face of the earth. I was wondering how Hakim rven got the title of a field marshal without winning a single war anyway. Also that was at the time when there was news about his pilots being unable to fly their jets back to their bases. Also it was the time when his invincible army was not able to defeat a ragtag peasant militia during the North Yemen conflict then. Hakim was taking a licking in Yemen so bad that he used banned chemical weapon on them. Can you imagine the licking he would be taking if he dared to send his army to Ethiopia? But he was smart enough not to do just that. That classmate was telling me to call the emperor advising him not to think or even dream about building a dam on the Blue Nile. So I got tired of his nonsensical diatribe and told him to call the emperor himself. Then the 6-day war erupted and you can read all about it in the history books to find out what happened. The entire Egyptian air force was wiped out in less than half an hour. Less than 300 Israeli soldiers overpowered to take the entire army corps(more than 15,000 armed to the teeth soldiers) without a single bullet being fired by Hakim’s ‘fearless in parades’ soldiers. Boy, did I get my break from that big mouth!!! Then there was this rumor spreading like a wild fire in the hoods and back alleys of al-Qahirah(Cairo) where the ‘feared’ pilots were when their jets were wiped out in less than 30 minutes left parked out in the open for every trained eye to see. It was said that Hakim’s pilots were having an all night orgy with their freshly imported ladies from the Caucasus, Azerbaijan in all. Then the ‘Field Marshal’ committed suicide at some joint in his barracks. Soon after that Nasser resorted to providing military and logistic aids on steroids to the predecessors of Al-Toweel and himself later. I am not making this up. Al-Toweel himself would be very proud to tell you all about it. Nasser and all of his successors are smart enough to know their fate if they try to send an army to the old country. The old country is naturally constructed for a single and multiple envelopment of the war game, and a 1960’s early version of Xbox Call of Duty, man!!!. Can you imagine seeing a halawa drunk Egyptian soldier walking around the Chercher (Cercer) Mountains or the escarpments of Tigray or the northern highlands of the Amhara region on his way to the dam? Just picture that. All you need is unleash your aggressive dogs, man!!! That would have been a rout, man!!!! Not even by our so gallant men and women but just by mad as hell pit bulls, rottweilers, dobermans, cane corsos and wolf dogs, dude!!!! Nuff said!!! I told you not to start with me about Egypt and her silly obsession with the Nile.
I watched the inauguration ceremony on YouTube and I broke down in tears from sheer and overwhelming joy. I fell down at the feet of The Almighty and thanked Him for Blessing me to live this long to see and savor this day. Alhamdulillah!
For now, I feel like I’m a young kid again at the candy store. All of you Ethiopia haters in Tennessee, Michigan, LA, Minnesota, Toronto, Oslo and Down Under! This is for you! Na nana nanah!!!!
I also want to wish all my countrymen/women a Happy Ethiopian New Year. Let’s all have in our thoughts and prayers all those who perished on this day by a heinous and dastardly acts of demonic terrorists in which we also had lost three members of our own Diaspora. They were:
1) Dr. Yeneneh Betru – A highly educated physician and a respected scientist.
2) .Eskedar Melaku – Another highly educated member of our Diaspora and a vice president at a global professional services firm.
3) There was news about a 3rd member of our Diaspora who was killed at the World Trade Center. I hope someone will tell us the name of that victim.
May All Rest in Eternal Peace!!!!
In the middle of all the joy I am basking in about the completion and inauguration of the dam. I couldn’t help it but feel saddened by the absence of officials representing another kin and kit neighbors. Djibouti was there with its president. Somalia, Kenya and South Sudan were all there with their leaders. Even a faraway nation of Eswatini was overwhelmed by joy that it had sent its representative to be part of the momentous day. I can understand Sudan’s absence but I could not bear the sadness I felt with the no-show of the leaders of our very dear Eritrean brothers and sisters. If the reason is that they were not invited, shame on the Ethiopian government. If they were invited but the leaders in Asmara turned the invitation down, then big shame on them. It is unfortunate and very sad indeed.