He is the fourth person to have lost his life on the project of the Renaissance dam. Simegnew Bekele, the project director, was found dead in his car on Thursday (July 26th) in Addis Ababa.
With a capacity of 6,000 megawatts, the equivalent of six nuclear reactors, this project will be, at its inauguration, the largest hydroelectric dam in Africa.
The discussions around his work had generated a lot of tension between Ethiopia and Sudan, and with Egypt, which, for its part, fears that this installation of a cost of 4 billion dollars built on the Blue Nile, does not affect the level of water on its territory, located downstream. It should be noted that this country is 90% dependent on the river for its water supply.
Before her death, the new victim of the project “had given, the night before, an interview to the BBC, interview in which he explained that the work of the dam was progressing according to expectations,” say local media.
It should be noted that last May, Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia reached an agreement providing for a scientific committee to study the impact of the dam whose construction began in 2011.
For the moment, the circumstances of this death are still unclear.
