The protracted dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Grand Renaissance Dam project is expected to be settled by June, when a study on its impact is expected to have been concluded.
After years of threats by Egypt and defiance by Ethiopia, a tripartite committee that includes Sudan, which was established to supervise construction of the $4.8-billion megaproject, has announced it will unveil an independent international firm to carry out a comprehensive study on the dam’s impacts.
The Tripartite International Panel of Experts is tasked with investigating the impacts of the dam and addressing the concerns of the two riparian countries.

The development comes at a time when a new battlefront has opened after Ethiopia decided to increase the dam’s capacity from 63-billion cubic metres to 74-billion cubic metres.

Egypt’s Irrigation Minister, Hossam Moghazi, revealed that the firm to undertake the study would be unveiled before the end of January and was expected to complete the study by June.
“The tripartite committee is expected to meet in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to sign the final contract for a comprehensive study to be carried out,” he said.

Seven firms, from Germany, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands and Australia, have been shortlisted to undertake the study, which is expected to resolve the protracted conflict, ignited by Ethiopia’s move to construct the megapower plant on the River Nile.
The dam, which will have the capacity to generate 5 250 MW and will be the largest hydropower scheme in Africa, is being constructed by Italian company Salini Costruttori.
By the end of last year, about 40% of construction works had been completed and the first stage of the facility is expected to start operating around the middle of this year.
Despite Ethiopia’s defiance and insistence that the project is core to its energy security, Egypt has strongly maintained that the dam will have adverse impacts on the country, which depends on the River Nile for about 90% of its water needs.
Egypt believes that the dam will impact on the flow of the Nile, at a time when the country needs an additional 21-billion cubic metres of water a year by 2050.