Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed today (February 4th) inaugurated Genale-Dawa III hydropower project.
The Genale-Dawa III hydropower project, which was built on the Dawa River in Southeast Ethiopia, has a total installed generating capacity of 254 MW.
The power project was built with an outlay of 451 million USD, out of which about 67.8 million USD was covered by the government of Ethiopia, while the remaining was covered by a loan.
The hydropower project was launched in 2010, the 110 meters high and 426-meter long dam has the capacity to hold 2.5 billion cubic meters of water, it was noted.
The project was temporarily suspended for more than a year due to certain setbacks pertinent to the resettlement of residents living close to the dam.
The completion of the power project will increase the country’s electric power generation capacity to 4654 MW from the existing 4,200MW.
The constructional work of the Genale-Dawa III hydropower project was undertaken by China Gezhouba Group.
Water, Irrigation and Energy Minister, Sileshi Bekele, Oromia Regional State Vice President, Shimels Abdisa and other senior federal and regional officials have also presided over the inaugural ceremony of the power project.
