Water, Engineering Prof. Stresses Need for Nile Basin States Cooperation in Building More Dams

Addis Ababa: Nile Basin countries need to foster cooperation in constructing more hydropower projects for the betterment and development of the region, Water and Environmental Engineering Professor Esayas Alemayehu said.

In an exclusive interview with ENA, the professor at Jimma University and Adjunct Professor at Africa Centre of Excellence for Water Management said one of the limitations in this region is lack of capacity in exploiting and managing resources.

“If we enhance the capacity and the capability in different sectors, we can solve the problem and cooperate together to see the new and future Nile Basin countries with better enhancement,” he added.

According to him, Ethiopia has become an example for other countries by constructing and managing such a huge project by Ethiopians.

The professor stressed that the GERD is built with the blood and sweat of the Ethiopian people from all walks of life.

“We have to be proud. We have demonstrated to the world that we are capable of having such a huge pro
ject. There were many challenges internationally and regionally, but we have overcome those challenges and came up with such an exemplary project which showed that Africans are capable of doing big projects by themselves.”

Professor Esayas further said that Nile Basin countries need to foster cooperation to even have more hydropower projects in the region for the betterment and development of the Nile Basin region.

For Ethiopians, he noted that having energy is a lot for many things for different sectors, including agriculture, food security, technology, and industrial sectors, among others. Hydropower is a very crucial renewable energy source.

Moreover, the country will continue supplying power to neighboring countries to accelerate the power integration projects already underway in the region, the professor elaborated.

He also believes that “we need to continue building similar projects with our capacity so that we can have a better Ethiopia in the future.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency