Addis Ababa, April 12, 2025 (FMC) — The Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam (GERD), which is the largest hydropower injector on the African continent, would drive integrated growth in the region and extend it to other parts of Africa, respected analysts in the field said.
The dam with a capacity of over 5,000 megawatts of hydroelectric power will be inaugurated in the coming months.
In his recent address to the parliamentarians, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed confirmed that the dam’s construction is on track for official inauguration within the next six or seven months.
“Ethiopians will make history by cutting the ribbon together around the beginning of next Ethiopian year,” he said.
In a Zoom interview, the internationally respected analysts Lawrence Freeman and Ashok Swain stated that Ethiopia is creating a major water storage possibility on the Nile River.
This is an imperative move to the nation in order to sufficiently minimize flooding to downstream nations as well as accelerate regional integration.
Lawrence Freeman, one of the few Americans who visited the dam a couple of years ago, notes that Ethiopia has not yet received adequate recognition for building the GERD, an outstanding accomplishment in the African continent.
“No one in the West, that includes the US in both administrations of President Trump and also in the administration of President Biden, (gave) any recognition and support to Ethiopia of the importance of this dam accomplishment, which is also self-financed. I’ve not seen any response either from Western Europe and even inside Africa,” he said.
On his part, UNESCO Chair on International Water Cooperation, Ashok Swain, stressed that GERD, as hydropower, should be taken as a source of regional cooperation.
“I think GERD, as hydropower, and also for all its other contributions in the better use of water resources on the Nile system, should be the source of cooperation in the region.”
Yet, the UNESCO Chair recalled the unprecedented and mounting diplomatic pressures against Ethiopia from the downstream countries, particularly from Egypt, over the past almost decade and a half of the dam construction period.
“Unfortunately, I think it’s a problem which Egypt hasn’t realized yet that it needs to cooperate, rather than expecting a historical status quo that will always continue while Ethiopia will suffer not using its own water resources.”
Due to Egypt’s ambition to protect its domination on the Nile River water, Swain figured out those incidents of anti-Ethiopia rhetoric and alliances to stop the construction of GERD.
But he believes that Egypt needs to accept the fact that Ethiopia has the right to use the water of the Nile.
Despite those challenges, the chair said the dam is now putting Ethiopia in a position to be a major source of energy distributions in the region.
In this regard, Freeman echoed the same sentiment saying he is confident that Ethiopia will become the second largest producer of electricity in Africa with the inauguration of GERD.
“It’s the largest injection of energy on the continent in recent memory. And with the inauguration of GERD, Ethiopia will become the second largest producer of electricity, next to South Africa, which has a nuclear energy plant,” he elaborated.
The physical economist and American analyst stated that the dam would drive integrated growth in the region and also extend it to other parts of Africa.
“With the Grand Renaissance Dam and the development activities going on in Ethiopia, it’s clear that Ethiopia has become one of the pillars of the whole African continent.”
Freeman finally urged the downstream countries to take the accomplishments of GERD as positive as long as it turns that into a grand design of economic development for the region and other parts of Africa, as per POA English.