CONSTRUCTION OF GRAND ETHIOPIAN RENAISSANCE DAM 66% COMPLETE

Construction works of the Grand Ethiopian
Renaissance Dam (GERD) is well in progress and has reached 66%. GERD Project
Manager, Eng. Kifle Horo announced the reports.

Eng. Horo explained that 81% of the dam and 82% of
the overall civil works have already been executed while 94% and 99% of the
saddle dam and the spillway, respectively are completed.

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is being built
along the Nile in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region of Ethiopia, about 15 km east of
the border with Sudan. Construction of the dam was awarded to Salini Impregilo for
US $4.8bn. The project, which was expected to be finalized in 2017, needed
extra four years to be completed due to poor performance in the
electro-mechanical and hydraulic steel structure work.

The government resorted to terminating the contract
with METEC in 2018 and signed with foreign contractors to resume the
electro-mechanical and hydraulic steel structures work. Seven contracts were
signed and all have started mobilization while two have started physical work.

The GERD is expected to produce 6,000-megawat which will be the centre-piece of Ethiopia’s bid to become Africa’s biggest power exporter.  GE Alstom, a US-French joint venture was previously awarded US $61m to install and commission the six turbine units. Two are expected to be finalized before 2020 to help early generation of 750MW.  GERD is set to become Africa’s largest hydro power dam upon its completion.https://constructionreviewonline.com/2019/04/construction-of-grand-ethiopian-renaissance-dam-at-66-complete/