
Fortune News | Aug 28,2021
Jun 23 , 2019
President Sahlework Zewde (right) and Seleshi Bekele (PhD) (left), minister of Water & Irrigation, attended a symposium dubbed Ethiopia Water & Energy Week on June 17, 2019, at the Ethiopian Skylight Hotel. The event attracted a wide range of professionals, researchers and leaders from various sectors, both local and international.
Organised under the headline “Transformation of Water & Energy Sector for Ethiopia’s New Horizon of Hope,” it underscored the irony that it is being held at a time when the sector is delivering more hope than results. The country is going through a power rationing scheme where households and businesses go dark for eight hours a day. The official reason for the power rationing is that the nation’s hydroelectric dams are operating at half their capacities due to lack of water in their reservoirs.
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the largest hydroelectric dam project in Africa, was launched with much public fanfare and anticipation but is now languishing in delays and cost overruns. Initially budgeted for 80 billion Br, the project cost has since mushroomed to 98 billion Br. Ethiopians from all walks of life have contributed over 12 billion Birr to date for the project. The Ministry has done its best to use the opportunity offered by the occasion to reboot the public’s enthusiasm in the project by showing off a model of its progress and by updating Sahlework on its current efforts. The symposium had various items on its three-day agenda including plenary sessions, presentations and a tree planting event. A range of discussions were held covering water and energy sector issues, sanitation and hygiene, basin development, irrigation, energy and the submission of several research findings.
PUBLISHED ON
Jun 23,2019 [ VOL
20 , NO
999]
Fortune News | Aug 28,2021
Fortune News | May 06,2023
Commentaries | Aug 20,2022
Fortune News | Nov 25,2023
Films Review | Jun 20,2020
Fortune News | Nov 09,2019
Fortune News | Apr 30,2022
Fortune News | Jun 17,2023
Commentaries | Sep 16,2023
Editorial | Aug 12,2023
Dec 24 , 2022
Biniam Mikru heads the department of cabinet affairs under Mayor Adanech Abiebie. But...
Jul 2 , 2022 . By RUTH TAYE
On a rainy afternoon last week, a coffee processing facility in the capital's Akaki-Qality District was abuzz with activ...
Nov 27 , 2021
Against my will, I have witnessed the most terrible defeat of reason and the most sa...
Nov 13 , 2021
Plans and reality do not always gel. They rarely do in a fast-moving world. Every act...
Dec 2 , 2023
The symphony of traffic noise in Addis Abeba is not just a sign of life, but a siren...
Nov 25 , 2023
Ethiopia's quest to develop a functioning capital market is a demanding yet not unach...
Nov 18 , 2023
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) has made a fervent call for landlocked Ethiopia to ga...
Nov 11 , 2023
In November last year, a ray of hope pierced the gloomy skies of Ethiopia as the Pret...