Jeddah Security and Development Summit Supports Egypt’s water rights

CAIRO – 17 July 2022: Leaders of the Jeddah Security and Development Summit, which include the countries of the Gulf States Council (GCC), Egypt, Jordan, and Iraq, and the US, announced their support for Egypt’s security water, in an indication to the issue of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), according to the conclusion statement of the summit.

They said that it is required to reach an agreement on the filling and operation of the dam as stipulated in the statement of the President of the Security Council on September 15, 2021 and in accordance with international law, the summit’s statement added.

Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Mohamed Abdel Aty had asserted in April 2022 in a meeting with the Japanese ambassador that Egypt showed much lenience throughout the decade-long negotiations on the filling and operation of the Dam built on the Nile River.  

The minister displayed the current status of negotiations, which has stalled, affirming Egypt's keenness on fulfilling the interests of all parties but not at the expense of its water rights. That is why it would not forfeit its demand for a legally binding agreement on the operation and filling of the hydropower project. 

Speaking of Egyptian-Japanese cooperation in the water resources sector, the minister lauded the outstanding collaboration between the two countries in that realm, and that is embodied in introducing and modernizing water facilities.

Currently, the ministry is building New Dairout Barrages, which is funded by a Japanese soft loan. In the past years, six other barrages were introduced on Bahr Youssef, a lake located in Fayoum governorate, through a Japanese grant. Those are called New Lahoun, Start of Giza Canal, Start of Hassan Wassef, Mazoura, Saqoula, and Monshaet Dahab.

The dispute among Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia dates back to May 2011 when Ethiopia started building the dam; Egypt voiced concern over its water share [55.5 billion cubic meters].

Constructions in the Grand Renaissance Dam started on April 2, 2011 at a cost of $4.8 billion. It was built by the Italian construction and engineering company Salini Impergilo. The dam is located on the Blue Nile with a planned capacity of 74 billion cubic meters, and was expected to generate up to 6,000 megawatts of power.

However, it is estimated to generate only 3,000 megawatts, as the number of turbines to be installed has been reduced to 13 turbines down from 16.

The first and second fillings were carried out in 2020 and 2021, respectively, making the total 8 billion cubic meters.