Egypt: The report modifies Renaissance dam’s size, dimensions

The state-owned news agency – Egypt State Information Service – claims that the final report of the International Panel of Experts  (a.k.a. Tripartite committee] “recommended changing and amending the dimensions and the size of the [Renaissance] dam”.

In a news published on Sunday afternoon, under the heading “Ethiopia agrees on recommendations of tripartite committee”, the Egyptian news agency reported as follows:

Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Baha Eddin on Saturday 1/6/2013 received the members of the Egyptian delegation which took part in the meetings of the three member committee to make an assessment of Renaissance Dam.Grand Ethiopian Renaissance dam project site

Baha Eddin got a copy of the final report drafted by the committee, which included Egypt, the Sudan and Ethiopia. The report is due to be raised to the Presidency of the Republic and the cabinet for taking the relevant political decision.

The report also recommended changing and amending the dimensions and the size of the dam before embarking on implementation and setting a timetable illustrating the water revenues if the River Nile during the coming 60 years.

The report stressed the importance of making complementary studies to confirm the safety of the dam in order to dispel any Sudanese fears over the possibility of its collapse.

The three parties agreed on non announcing the details of the final report to the public opinion in the three countries except after giving enough time to governments to probe the report.

The committee stressed the importance of direct dialogue on the results and recommendations as well as technical recommendations which were made by the committee.

Meantime, President Mohamed Morsi will meet with the Egyptian delegation which took part in the activities of the tripartite technical committee which made an assessment of the effects of Renaissance Dam.

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[Note that: The news was not corroborated by Khartoum or Addis Ababa and it could also be intended to calm the strong criticism against President Morsi’s government.]

[Stay tuned]

Daniel Berhane

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