Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) awarded a Chinese company, China Gezhouba Group, the contract to execute pre-commissioning activities of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) at the cost of 40.1 million dollars. The agreement was signed last Monday, February 18, 2019, by Abraham Belay (PhD), CEO of Ethiopian Electric Power, and a representative of China Gezhouba Group Co., Ltd (CGGC) Ethiopia. The project was formerly awarded to the Metal & Engineering Corporation (MetEC) but cancelled due to poor performance. EEP has awarded a balance of plant contract to Voith Hydro Shanghai, which includes the electrical, mechanical and various civil and structural works required to complete the construction of the generating station and spillways. Abraham and Tang Xu, executive vice president of Voith Hydro Shanghai, a German-based Chinese company, signed the 113-million-dollar contract. Over the past two months, the EEP has been awarding different companies to supply and install turbines at the dam, construct the steel structure of the dam and supply power generating units.