Water Ministers of Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt met in Addis Ababa to discuss on issues regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
The three countries have reached a consensus to continue the trilateral technical discussions on the dam following the meeting hosted by the United States in Washington DC, a week ago.
They agreed to hold four technical governmental meetings at the level of water ministers in attendance of the World Bank and the United States as observers.
The Minister also agreed to work toward completion of an agreement by January 15, 2020 and would attend two meetings in Washington, DC on December 9 and January 13, 2020 to assess and support progress.
Dr Engineer Seleshi Bekele, Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy this week announced the completion of construction of the saddle dam of the hydropower project.
The completion of the 50m high and 5.2km long concrete faced rockfill dam (CRFD) is an important milestone for the project, said the Minister.
The ancillary work to the CFRD such as grouting and finishing works on audits will be soon finalized, the Minister said on Twitter.
The construction of GERD project has now reached over 68 % completion status.
Ethiopia envisaged finalizing the project, which is being built in Benishangul Gumuz regional state on Abay (Nile) river, in 2023. At the end of the works, it will be the largest dam in Africa.
