Tripartite Committee Agree on the Impact Studies of the Ethiopian Dam
Khartoum, 3 Jumadal Awwal 1437/February 11, 2016 (MINA) – The tripartite national committee on the Renaissance Dam Tuesday has agreed on a joint stance toward the technical proposal submitted by the French consultancy firms that were assigned to probe effects of the dam on Sudan and Egypt.
The planned Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project On September 22, 2014, the panel of experts in the three countries proposed the conduction of two additional studies on the dam project, the first one on the effect of the dam on the water quota of Sudan and Egypt and the second one to examine the dam’s ecological, economic and social impacts of the dam on Sudan and Egypt.
The French Artelia and BRL groups have been selected to undertake the dam impact studies. The U.K.-based law firm Corbett & Co was selected to manage the legal affairs of the tripartite committee.
The tripartite committee, which concluded a two-day meeting in Khartoum Tuesday, has agreed to submit a joint memo pertaining to the three countries’ remarks on the technical proposal prepared by the French firms.
Sudanese sources said the envelope of the financial offer submitted by the two French firms was opened by the heads of the committees from the three countries including Saif al-Din Hamad of Sudan, Ahmed Baha al-Din of Egypt and Goodwin of Ethiopia.
The same sources pointed that the remarks would be referred to the French firms while the legal advisor, Corbett would embark on developing the draft contract.
It added the tripartite committee would meet again on Wednesday in the presence of ministers of irrigation of Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia to discuss the contract proposal prior to signing it.
It is worth to mention that the three ministers of irrigation would meet in Khartoum on Wednesday to follow up on the findings of the tripartite committee meeting.
The multi-billion dollar dam is being constructed on the Blue Nile, about 20 kilometres from the Sudanese border, and has a capacity of 74 billion cubic meters, and is expected to generate electrical power of up to 6,000 megawatts.
Egypt is concerned that the dam could reduce its quota of 55.5 billion cubic meters of the Nile water, while the Ethiopian side maintains that the dam is primarily built to produce electricity and will not harm Sudan and Egypt. (T/P4/R04)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
