Renaissance Dam impact studies to begin “soon” -Ittihadiya
President Abdel Fattah El Sisi met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on the sidelines of the African Union Summit in Kigali, according to a statement from Ittihadiya. The readout of their meeting doesn’t offer much in the way of specifics except for saying that both sides agreed to finally begin long-delayed impact studies on Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam “soon,” with no detailed timeframe given.
“Those consulting studies are completely useless,” said Cairo University water resources professor Nader Noor El Din to Daily News Egypt, reiterating an oft-repeated criticism on the strategy with which Egypt is approaching Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam (GERD). “The studies are expected to take 17 months as an average while the GERD completion is scheduled for October 2017, which is 12 months away from now. The results of these studies are also nonbinding.” Noor El Din suggests instead that Egypt resort to the international court and the United Nations Security Council.