Nation’s Most Expensive Dam Undertaken by Sino-Ethiopia JV
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – A joint venture between two Chinese and one Ethiopian contractor are undertaking the construction of the twin Gebba Hydro electric power dams, with 9.3 billion Br in financing from China.
The dams will be built on the Gebba River in western Ethiopia across the Jimma and Ilu Aba Bora zones of the Oromia Regional State. It is a project for which the power utility had been looking for contractors and financing since October 2008.
When it sought for expressions of interest by the end of November that year, the specifications it gave for the dams were 214.4Mw for Geba 1, with a head of 480m, and 157Mw for Geba 2, with a head of 267m. The average annual generation of the two was given as 935GW-hours and 853GW-hours, respectively, with a 2006 cost estimate of 295 million dollars and 124 million dollars.
The idea was first incepted in 2005, when a feasibility study was conducted by two Norwegian consulting firms, Norplan Consulting Engineers & Planners and Nor Consult LLC, in association with two other local firms, Shebelle Consult Plc and the Water Works Design & Supervising Enterprise (WWDSE). But it was updated by Norplan in 2012.
Now, the Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) expects 391MW from the hydro-electric complex of Geba 1 and 2, up from 371.5MW originally. The total cost has also gone up from 419 million dollars then to 583 million dollars, or 11.66 billion Br, 80pc of which is coming from for the EX-IM Bank of China in a preferential credit modality. The government covers the remaining 20pc.
Read more at: Addis Fortune
