The $4.2 billion dam will not reduce Ethiopia’s share of Nile water.

I am pleased to announce the completion of the fourth and final filling of the Renaissance Dam,” Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on X, formerly Twitter.

As he admitted, “internal and external obstacles” faced the project, but “we overcame them all”. In February 2022, the dam began generating electricity.

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd) is expected to double the country’s electricity output, which will boost development as half of Ethiopia’s 127 million people are currently without electricity.

Approximately 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Ethiopia’s border with Sudan, the dam will generate more than 6,000 MW.

The Sudan and Egypt argue that common rules for the operation of Gerd must be agreed upon, to prevent Ethiopia from exacerbate their existing water shortages.

Having been suspended in 2021, negotiations over the project resumed last month.