Ethiopia dam tripartite committee to choose impact study firm in early 2015

The tripartite committee looking into Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam is expected to meet by mid-January to choose an international firm to conduct studies on the dam's impact, Egypt's irrigation minister said Friday.

Hossam Moghazi told state news agency MENA that Egypt is committed to completing the study by mid-2015.   
Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia had selected seven international firms in October to prepare technical and financial offers to conduct studies on Ethiopia's $4.2 billion dam project, which Egyptian officials fear could affect the country's water share.

The tripartite committee was expected to have selected the firm by mid-December. However, the deadline to receive offers was extended after two firms withdrew.

After meeting to study the firms' offers, the tripartite committee is expected to meet in Addis Ababa to sign the final contract.

The firm's report — based on a study to be conducted over five months — will include the dam's impact on upstream Nile countries Egypt and Sudan, as well as its environmental, social and economic effects.
An Ethiopian "people's delegation" arrived in Cairo on Tuesday for a three day visit. Delegates met with diplomats, religious figures, university professors and journalists.
 http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/118360.aspx
19/12/14
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Related:

• 20% of Egypt's Nile water share lost through ‘misuse’

• Ethiopia calls Egypt to resume talks over dam

• Egypt calling for resumption of Nile dam talks...

20% of Egypt's Nile water share lost through ‘misuse’

Egyptians waste 20 percent of the country’s share of water from the Nile, a water resources expert has said in comments reported by Al-Ahram Arabic news website.

Diaaeddin El-Qousi, a professor at the National Institute for Water, said on Sunday that Egyptians “misuse” water by leaving taps running and while washing cars, among other reasons.
Political science professor, Mostafa Elwi, called on Egyptian institutions to cooperate in order to find solutions to the Ethiopian dam issue.

The comments were made at a seminar held by the Research and Strategic Studies Institute for Nile Basin Countries.

Ethiopia's construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam has concerned the Egyptian government since May 2013.

The Nile is Egypt's main source of water, with an allocated flow of 55.5 km3/yr, according to the Nile Waters Agreement between Egypt and Sudan in 1959. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/117962.aspx
15/12/14
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Related:

• Ethiopia calls Egypt to resume talks over dam

• Egypt calling for resumption of Nile dam talks...

Lake shrinks by third. (The sharp fall of the lake's water level will affect shipping and fishing as well as nearby residents' water supply)

China's largest freshwater lake, Poyang, has shrunk by one third over the last three days due to a reduced water supply from the Yangtze River and little rainfall.

At 8 am Wednesday, the lake's surface area was 1,490 square kilometers, a reduction of 679 square kilometers compared with 2,169 square kilometers on Monday, said the Jiangxi Provincial Hydrological Bureau on Wednesday. 

The water level at the Xingzi hydrological station was 11.99 meters at 4 pm Wednesday, 2.13 meters lower than the average level recorded in recent years. The water level is falling by 30 centimeters every day.

The two major causes for the lake shrinking were the reduced water supply from the upper Yangtze River due to the construction of dams and sparse rainfall over the past month in Jiangxi, said the bureau.

The precipitation was less than 5 millimeters since September 20 in Jiangxi Province.

The lake's flood season began on April 30 and lasted until October 18.

This year's flood period was 33 days longer than last year's.

The sharp fall of the lake's water level will affect shipping and fishing as well as nearby residents' water supply.  
Sources : Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
22- 23/10/14
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• In fight against hunger, UN launches initiative targeting threat of desertification

• En 2040 no habrá agua suficiente para la población mundial (si seguimos haciendo lo que hacemos hoy)

Central Anatolian basin’s aquifers dry out. (the most arid winters and springs in recent years)

The Konya Basin’s aquifers have dried out, Forestry and Water Affairs Minister Veysel Eroğlu said in a written statement July 30, as the country has experienced one of the most arid winters and springs in recent years.

The basin, which is also used to irrigate the Central Anatolian Konya’s lowlands, the largest in the country, has formally entered a hydrological drought, said Eroğlu responding to parliamentary questions.


Eroğlu said they are planning to cope with the drought by reducing the irrigation at the plantations in the area and choosing plants that require relatively less water to grow. The Konya’s lowlands are one of the main areas that produce sugar beets, which require considerable amounts of water to grow.

“Turkey is not a country rich in water. Considering the quantity of water per capita, it is in fact a country that experiences water scarcity. The quantity of potable water per capita in Turkey is around 519 cubic meters,” Eroğlu said.

The hydrological drought in Konya could threaten the economy in the area, which is based on agriculture and farming. Despite the minister’s admission about water scarcity, the government’s environmental policy is severely criticized by ecologists, particularly for privileging energy investments over protecting nature.

• The recent construction of dozens of hydroelectric plants on small streams that are important for the country’s ecological balance has raised massive outcry as many experts warn that the practice could cause droughts in several rivers, resulting in land erosion in many parts of the country. 

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com
31/7/14
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Related:

• En 2040 no habrá agua suficiente para la población mundial (si seguimos haciendo lo que hacemos hoy)

• Turkish activists make the ‘big jump’ to free rivers from dams (Turkey faces losing 80 percent of its biodiversity)

Turkish activists make the ‘big jump’ to free rivers from dams (Turkey faces losing 80 percent of its biodiversity)

Activists in Turkey have gathered along several rivers across the country to make a swan dive in the global “big jump” event calling for the protection of waterways to protest the scores of hydroelectric plant projects (HES) and dams that threaten dozens of environmentally protected or untouched areas.

One of the venues was the picturesque town of Hasankeyf at the border of the Tigris River, which will be flooded by the gargantuan Ilısu reservoir when completed.

The Nature Association, which sponsored the event in Turkey, stressed the Constitutional Court had halted legislation that exempted companies making huge energy investments from the validation of an Environmental Impact Assessment (ÇED) report earlier this month.

• It also said that Turkey faces losing 80 percent of its biodiversity if the HES projects are to be completed in the near future.

“While in a normal state of law it would be impossible to think not to what’s required by this ruling, in Turkey all the unlawful projects are ongoing,” said Engin Yılmaz, chairman of the association.

• “Rivers are the source of life. Each river is also the heart of all the life destroyed by dams and HES. We don’t only lose our biodiversity, like in Hasankeyf, we also lose the cultures that have lived in these lands and are our roots,” he said.

Other similar demonstrations have been held at the fiery Fırtına River in the Black Sea province of Rize, at the Süvari Çayı River in Ankara and nearby the Alakır River in the southern province of Antalya. 
[hurriyetdailynews.com]
14/7/14

Ethiopia calls Egypt to resume talks over dam

Ethiopia has urged Egypt for another round of tripartite talks with Sudan to implement international recommendations over the construction of its hydroelectric dam on the Nile, an Egyptian news agency reported Thursday.

“We seek to persuade the Egyptian authorities to avoid unnecessary complaints against the dam and to resume the tripartite talks with Ethiopia and Sudan,” the state-run news agency MENA quoted Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn as saying during a parliament meeting.

Desalegn said his country is ready to respond if Egypt decided to take its dispute over the Grand Renaissance Dam to the United Nations.

Thirty-one percent of the dam’s construction was already complete, Desalegn said, adding that the dam would begin generating electricity next year.
Ethiopia building the damn could transform one of the world’s poorest countries into a regional hydropower hub.

Addis Ababa has already rejected an offer from Cairo to help finance building the dam and opted to fully pay for the project.

Power-hungry region

The electricity it will generate - enough to power a giant rich-world city like New York - can be exported across a power-hungry region.
So far, Ethiopia has paid 27 billion birr ($1.5 billion) out of a total projected cost of 77 billion birr for the dam, which will create a lake 246 km long, according to Reuters.
Economists warn that squeezing the private sector to pay for the public infrastructure could hurt future prospects. Growth is already showing signs of slowing.
Egypt, which has claimed exclusive right to control the Nile’s waters for generations, is infuriated. Cairo worries the dam will reduce the flow on which it has depended for drinking water and irrigation for thousands of years.
Talks between Ethiopia and Egypt deteriorated in recent months but officials from the two countries still insist they will continue to meet in order to solve the dispute.
Egypt has demanded building be halted pending negotiations between the countries.
Cairo no longer wields the same leverage it once did when upriver sub-Saharan countries were too poor to build such huge projects themselves.
(With Reuters)

Last Update: Friday, 25 April 2014 KSA 09:16 - GMT 06:16 

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2014/04/25/Ethiopia-calls-Egypt-to-resume-talks-over-dam.html

25/4/14

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• Ethiopia insists that it must build a series of dams. Dialogue only way to bridge Ethiopia-Egypt gap. -PM  ...

 

Citing its own development needs, however, Ethiopia insists that it must build a series of dams to generate electricity – both for local consumption and export.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn said Monday that dialogue was the only way to bridge outstanding differences between Ethiopia and Egypt about a multi-billion dollar hydroelectric dam on the Nile River. "I know dialogue will continue. I don't see there will be a military solution and [talk of] war is absurd. It doesn't work," Dessalegn told a press conference in Addis Ababa.
"This kind of problem is solved through dialogue," he said. "From the Ethiopian side, we are ready to see a cooperative way to find solution through dialogue." Plans by Ethiopia to build a massive hydroelectric dam, dubbed the "Grand Renaissance Dam Project," on the Blue Nile – the primary source of Egypt's water supply –sent shockwaves down Egypt's Nile Valley.
Water distribution among the states of the Nile basin have long depended on a colonial-era treaty giving Egypt and Sudan the lion's share of Nile water.

• Citing its own development needs, however, Ethiopi
• a insists that it must build a series of dams to generate electricity – both for local consumption and export.

Addis Ababa maintains that the new dam will benefit Egypt and Sudan, both of which will be invited to purchase electricity thus generated. The Ethiopian premier said that his country wants to see a stable and democratic Egypt. "If General [Abdel-Fattah] al-Sisi is elected, I am ready to work with him," he said. Calls have grown for al-Sisi, who led the army move to unseat elected president Mohamed Morsi, to run in Egypt's upcoming presidential election, expected within three months. Turning to the conflict in South Sudan, the Ethiopian premier said that the Inter-government Authority for Development (IGAD) has authorized the Ugandan army to protect the government in Juba. "We denounce unconstitutional power seizure and this is the position of all IGAD states," he said. "IGAD has a clear position in this regard. Uganda has to protect the government." He, however, said that forces from Uganda and other countries must leave South Sudan phase by phase.............................http://www.ellanodikis.net/2014/02/ethiopia-insists-that-it-must-build.html

10/2/14

Emergency declared, bridges down after heavy rain hits villages in Vidin area in Bulgaria

A state of emergency has been declared in the municipality of Ruzhintsi in Bulgaria after torrential rain inundated the area, also flooding villages in the Vidin area, damaging bridges, private property and roads.

The emergency was announced after an April 24 special meeting at Ruzhintsi municipal headquarters of the crisis staff headed by Vidin deputy regional governor Nikolai Todorov.

Overnight, about 60 people were evacuated after the heavy rain in recent days flooded the villages of Gyurgich and Pleshivets.

While Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry said that there had been no serious damage, public broadcaster Bulgarian National Television reported that the mayors of the affected villages said that a house had been destroyed, yards flooded, cars deluged and bridges had collapsed.

• Separate reports said that 10 bridges had been destroyed in the Ruzhintsi area because of the pouring rain that began in the area on April 18 and was continuing on April 24.

• The bridges that were destroyed were in the villages of Ruzhintsi, Byalo Pove, Drenovets, Pleshivets, Roglets and Drazhintsi.

A disaster was declared in Chouprene Municipality on April 20 after the Gorni Lom River overflowed its banks.

• Overflowing dams flooded dozens of houses in Vidin overnight, bTV reported.

Meanwhile, coloured rain fell overnight in Bulgaria, a phenomenon resulting from sand being borne from the Sahara by a cyclone that formed over northern Africa earlier in the week and which has been moving north-east, and was reportedly centred over Albania and Macedonia on April 24.

The Bulgarian Academy of Science said that the rain was not harmful.
[sofiaglobe.com]
24/4/14
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• Επιφυλακή στον Έβρο για ενδεχόμενο πλημμυρών

• Ευρωπαϊκός Οργανισμός Περιβάλλοντος: Έρχονται ακραία καιρικά φαινόμενα στην Ευρώπη

Lower Mekong Countries Urge Halt to Lao Dam Project

Officials from the Mekong countries of Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam are urging Laos to halt development of a dam project that could have a significant impact on downstream communities and ecosystems along the river.
Cambodian, Thai, and Vietnamese delegations visited the site of the planned dam on Wednesday. All three countries have expressed their concerns over the project.
Tek Vannara, head of Cambodia's NGO Forum, a consortium of organizations, told VOA Khmer he was still concerned after the visit to the Don Sahong dam site.
"If they block the fish migration passages by building this dam, some fish species will surely be lost," he said.
He added that the dam would affect at least 6 million Cambodians living either near the site or along the Mekong River or Tonle Sap lake.

Lao officials said they were conducting the project transparently and with the proper safeguards.
Sin Niny, permanent vice chair of Cambodia's National Mekong Committee, said Cambodia has maintained its position that Laos should stop the project and conduct more environmental assessments.
"We demand that Lao study in details as requested by other countries along the Mekong before starting the dam construction," said Sin Niny.
Meanwhile, more than 50 environmental and development organizations are preparing to submit a letter to the Mekong River Commission, an inter-regional body formed to tackle river issues, voicing their concerns over the impact of the dam.
This report was produced in collaboration with the VOA Khmer service.
http://www.voanews.com/content/lower-mekong-countries-urge-halt-to-lao-dam-project/1870575.html
13/3/14

Στην Αφρική το μεγαλύτερο υδροηλεκτρικό φράγμα του κόσμου;

Ένα υδροηλεκτρικό φράγμα διπλάσιας ισχύος από το μεγαλύτερο στον κόσμο – το Φράγμα των Τριών Φαραγγιών, στην Κίνα – ενδέχεται να ανεγερθεί μέσα στα επόμενα χρόνια στην Αφρική. Εταιρείες από την Ισπανία, την Κίνα και τη Νότια Κορέα «ερίζουν» για την υλοποίηση του φιλόδοξου έργου που, όπως όλα δείχνουν, θα αρχίσει προς το τέλος του 2015, ωστόσο δεν λείπουν και οι ενστάσεις.

Το φράγμα Inga 3, που στην πρώτη του φάση θα έχει ισχύ 4,800MW με προοπτική δεκαπλασιασμού, πρόκειται να κατασκευαστεί στον ποταμό Κονγκό, το βαθύτερο στον κόσμο, 230 χλμ. νοτιοδυτικά της Κινσάσα, ενώ εκτιμάται ότι θα στοιχίσει μεταξύ 9 δισ. και 14 δισ. δολαρίων. Σύμφωνα με αξιωματούχους, η ανέγερσή του θα έχει ολοκληρωθεί έως το 2021.

Το έργο βρίσκεται στα χαρτιά εδώ και περισσότερα από 30 χρόνια, όμως η πολιτική αστάθεια σε συνδυασμό με τις αντιδράσεις των τοπικών κοινοτήτων και το τεράστιο κόστος του εμπόδιζαν την ανέγερση του φράγματος που θα μπορούσε να ανακουφίσει μια μεγάλη περιοχή από τις ελλείψεις ηλεκτρισμού, οι οποίες λειτουργούν ως τροχοπέδη για την οικονομική ανάπτυξη της ηπείρου.

Στα τέλη Μαΐου, η Παγκόσμια Τράπεζα άφησε ανοιχτό το ενδεχόμενο διοχέτευσης 50 εκ. δολαρίων «για την προετοιμασία και την ανάπτυξη του έργου», ενώ παρόμοια δέσμευση ανέλαβε και η Αφρικανική Αναπτυξιακή Τράπεζα. Επιπλέον, η Νότια Αφρική συμφώνησε να αγοράσει περίπου το μισό ηλεκτρικό ρεύμα που θα παράγει ο σταθμός, παρά το γεγονός ότι η τεράστια απόσταση συνεπάγεται σημαντικές απώλειες.

Σε μια προσπάθεια να περιοριστούν οι περιβαλλοντικές επιπτώσεις του έργου, το Inga 3 προβλέπει την εκτροπή τμήματος του ποταμού μέσω ενός καναλιού, κατά μήκος του οποίου θα χτιστεί ένα φράγμα 1,6 χλμ. Η Παγκόσμια Τράπεζα εκτιμά ότι, σε πλήρη λειτουργία, το φράγμα θα μπορούσε να καλύπτει τις ενεργειακές ανάγκες έως και 500 εκ. αφρικανικών νοικοκυριών.

Οι πολέμιοί του ωστόσο επισημαίνουν ότι αποτελεί λάθος όχημα ανάπτυξης σε μια ήπειρο που δεν διαθέτει τις κατάλληλες υποδομές διανομής μεγάλων ποσοτήτων ενέργειας που παράγονται από τη μία πηγή. Επιπλέον, υποστηρίζουν ότι αυτοί που το χρειάζονται περισσότερο, δηλαδή οι ίδιοι οι κάτοικοι του Κονγκό, δεν θα επωφεληθούν από αυτό, καθώς η χώρα δεν διαθέτει εθνικό δίκτυο ηλεκτροδότησης ούτε σκοπεύει να αναπτύξει.
www.naftemporiki.gr
12/6/13
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• World ‘biggest hydroelectric dam’ for Congo

In what is seen as a good move for renewable energy, talks in the French capital, Paris, between the Democratic Republic of Congo and international officials have agreed work on the world’s biggest hydroelectric dam will start in October 2015 in the DR Congo.
The meeting on the proposed Inga dam on the Congo River also involved multilateral lending institutions.
A statement after the talks concluded said the “foundation stone will be laid in October 2015.”
“With a production of 40,000 megawatts (MW), the Grand Inga project will eventually provide electricity to half the African continent,” it said.
This is less than half of the DR Congo’s total hydropower resources, which the World Bank estimates at 100,000MW.
World Bank estimates suggest that if completed and running at full capacity, the complex could provide energy to up to 500 million African households.
The first phase of the project, Inga Three Basse Chute, will have a capacity of 4800MW.
The Paris meeting followed a deal signed on May 7 between South Africa and DR Congo for co-operation in the energy sector and for South Africa to buy some of the electricity produced.
Plants would need to be rehabilitated and massive new stations built on the powerful Inga falls, which lie in a narrow strip of DR Congo territory through which the Congo River runs down to the Atlantic coast.
Three consortiums are bidding to clinch the contract for the project: China’s Sinohydro and Three Gorges Corporation; Spain’s Actividades de Construccion y Servicios (ACS), Eurofinsa and AEE; and South Korean firms Daewoo and Posco with SNC Lavalin of Canada.
The Three Gorges Dam in China is currently the world’s largest hydropower complex, with a capacity of 22,500MW.

 http://econews.com.au/news-to-sustain-our-world/world-biggest-hydroelectric-dam-for-congo/

30/5/13