The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam GERD is one example of how collaboration and unity between people can bring national success to a country. The project is almost reaching its 6th year anniversary since it was launched for the benefit of the riparian countries through fair utilization. This power generating dam is about to celebrate its 6th year anniversary since our great leader Ato Meles Zenawi launched the project on April 23, 2011. It is recently reported that the anniversary will be held under the theme ‘Our grand Renaissance Dam – Our Country’s Unity Knot & Beacon of our Renaissance’.
Although it was planned at first for the dam to generate 5 thousand 250 mega watts of electric power, the capacity has elevated to 6 thousand mega watts through the repeated improvement made on the power generating turbine. As recently reported, the dam’s power generation capacity has increased to 6 thousand 450 megawatts.
The surplus of one thousand 200 megawatt is equal to the combined power Tekeze, Beles and Gibe II dams produce. In my belief, the ever growing power generating capacity of the grand Renaissance dam shows that the unity the people of Ethiopia and the path towards their Renaissance is both flourishing.
I don’t think the change seen by the dam for the past six years came out of the blue – it came out of the principle of fairness the Ethiopian people adhered to, where everybody will come out as winners. If one developmental work is undertaken in a fair manner where everybody benefits from it without anyone getting harmed, obviously success will come out of it.
As far as I can understand, the outcome will make the downstream countries happy. Especially considering the Egyptians are showing positive signs towards collaboration on the issue, maybe if they want to benefit from it by buying electric power when the dam is completed, they can get huge amount of electric power – this works for Sudan as well. It can be said that the dam is an illustration that our country is not a threat to its neighboring countries or to the downstream countries; in fact, it shows that our country is working to benefit every horn of Africa countries and the riparian countries.
The fact that the Ethiopian government and people were able to raise the power generation capacity of the dam while being at 56% completion shows that Ethiopia is strengthening its capability in economy, politics and other sectors within the region and the continent as a whole.
Of course as the Ethiopian government and people are concerned about the peace and stability of the horn of Africa and the whole people of African and are committed to that end to the point of sacrificing themselves, we can safely say that they feel responsible for the fair and equitable utilization of the riparian countries when it comes to the Nile River.
Outside of this, they have no interest to harm any one of the riparian country. They are Africa’s examples of the 21st century that try to solve any disagreements through democratic way or through discussions. Looking at this reputation of our country, members of the African Union and the United Nations have chosen Ethiopia to serve as non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for two years. And obviously this comes from the contribution our country has made for the peace of Africa and the world, and also from its foreign policy that gives priority to the principle of mutual benefit.
This unwavering position of the country; which is applauded at international level, is also reflected in the development work the country undertakes internally. The potential benefit each development work we undertake has on our neighboring countries and to those countries that have historical people to people ties with our country will also be taken into account. In this regard, the grand renaissance dam provides the path where our neighbors can grow together with us.
In the modern 21st century world, there is no such thing as growing alone. Ones growth is a cause for the growth of the other. And the failure of one is also replicated on the other as well. Therefore, even those countries that want to grow together with us care about our prosperity, let alone our neighboring countries.
Understanding this, the FDRE government and people believe that the hopes and future of their country is tied to others. Therefore, they thoroughly assess if any of the development effort they put in is fair, and how much it benefits the others before they implement them. And regarding the grand renaissance dam, they put in their effort to implement public projects without any hindrances and try to create national and regional benefit. Of course saying that the grand renaissance dam; which our people built through all their might for the past six years and currently is an increased power generation capability is an emblem of unity for the people will not be exaggeration.
Indeed! The grand renaissance dam is a show of our unity within out differences. It is a project which we saw the benefits of collaboration and unity. In short, the project is a huge illustration of the campaign our people together waged against poverty. It is a project that changed ‘no it can’t be done’ mentality to ‘yes we can’.
Truth be told, every Ethiopian want to change for the better – they want to improve their lives. There is nobody in our country that doesn’t want to reclaim the glorious past of their forefathers. They all want to change the image of famine and food aid that is associated with their country. I don’t think there are people in the new Ethiopia that don’t strive for development and to win against poverty and backwardness.
Maybe if there is such a person, then that person is a lackey for some foreign forces and ideology extremists that either doesn’t want to see our country’s unity or development. Why say this? Because there is no sane person that doesn’t want to see their country and people prosper. Sabotaging own country’s development aspirations is not part of the culture and value of Ethiopia.
As it’s known, our people don’t have the culture to compromise or negotiate on its national unity or sovereignty. Our people from the old to the child have all contributed either through their labor, money or knowledge and worked 24 hours a day for the past six years in order to build the grand Renaissance dam – and now they have contributed to the increase of the power generation capacity of the dam.
This fact confirms that as long as they collaborate and stand committed in single vision, there is no developmental heights they can’t reach. In this regard, our people have implemented two five years growth and transformation plans to realize the Renaissance of their country – they are still implementing it. In the first plan, they have facilitated the groundwork that would help them realize their Renaissance. They are currently facilitating the second growth and transformation plan. And the grand Renaissance dam is a part of and a show of this plan. Therefore, we should remember that the construction of the dam is part of the effort of the Ethiopian people to break free from poverty.