The standoff between Egypt and Ethiopia over use of the Nile river’s waters is threatening to jeopardise power projects aimed at interconnecting the grids of countries in the wider Eastern Africa region.
In a new twist to the protracted dispute, Egypt has pulled out of the Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP) grouping in protest at Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance dam project, which, it contends, will have an adverse impact on the downstream flow of the Nile river.
The EAPP brings together ten countries and its objective is the optimum development of energy resources in the region to increase access to electricity by citizens in the member States through regional power interconnections.
The ten countries are Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Libya and Uganda.
Egypt’s decision to pull out of the regional body came after it had refused to adopt the amended EAPP master plan, which was finalised in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, recently.
The new master plan, which was adopted by all the other member countries, will act as a guiding tool for regional power integration over the next 25 years.
“Egypt has decided not to sign and adopt the master plan because concerns over the Grand Renaissance dam have not been addressed,” says Egyptian Electricity Holding Company chairperson Gaber Desouky.
Egypt has strongly objected to the construction of the dam, which, it says, will have adverse impacts on the North African country, which depends on the Nile river for about 90% of its water needs.
The decision by Egypt, a critical member of the North African Power Pool, to pull out of the EAPP could threaten the implementation of key interconnector projects that are necessary to facilitate electricity trade in the region.
The move could also affect the wider ambitions of creating a regional power market linking the EAPP and the Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP), which brings together 13 countries.
According to the EAPP master plan, a number of electricity transmission lines connecting member States have been earmarked for constructions over the next ten years. They include the Libya–Egypt, Egypt–Sudan, Sudan–Ethiopia, Rwanda–Tanzania, Uganda–South Sudan and Uganda–Kenya transmission lines.
The master plan provides an integrated approach that aims to speed up implementation of the projects. It also provides a framework for cooperation between the EAPP and international development partners like the World Bank and the Africa Development Bank, which are funding the projects.
Ethiopia, which has maintained that construction of the $4.8-billion hydropower project, with capacity to generate 5 250 MW, will continue, despite Egypt’s objection and that the pull-out will not affect the EAPP initiative.
“I don’t think Egypt’s refusal to sign the document will affect the implementation of the master plan because it has been approved by the rest of the members,” says Ethiopia’s Minister of Water, Irrigation and Electricity Motuma Mekasa.
The success of the EAPP is at the core of Ethiopia’s ambitions to become a regional electricity export giant, with the Horn of Africa nation having already signed power export agreements with Sudan, Kenya, Djibouti and South Sudan.