Executives at the Ethiopian Electric Power have greenlit the construction of a power supply line from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) to the seat of the Benishangul-Gumuz regional administration.
Despite being located only a few hours’ drive from the dam, the town of Assosa struggles with chronic power shortages and outages. Officials there say they have long been requesting the construction of a direct power supply line.
A letter signed by Ashebir Balcha (Eng.), EEP head, last month indicates intentions to erect a 230kV power line between GERD and Assosa.
“In line with EEP’s mandate and vision of ensuring electricity access and national coverage expansion, manpower is allocated to conduct a survey for the installation of an electricity line that can carry 230 kilovolts from GERD to Asosa and its surroundings,” reads the letter.
Ashebir confirmed to The Reporter that a team has been deployed to conduct the survey.
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“We’ll know how much investment this will require when the survey is finalized. The regional state has repeatedly asked us to distribute power from GERD to Benishangul. We believe the region should have access to electricity and we’re working on that,” said the CEO.
Power outages plague Assosa for a number of reasons, including issues with existing transmission lines.
“We’ve communicated with the Benishangul regional administration. It requires a long-term solution,” said Ashebir.
He estimates that once the survey wraps up and the necessary bids are floated, it could take up to three years or longer to build the power line, which will stretch over 160 kilometers.
“All this will happen if the study proves the project is feasible. Even after an agreement is signed, it will take time to import the equipment from manufacturers abroad,” said Ashebir.
The survey is expected to take up to four months to complete.
The CEO disclosed that contractors and clients working on other projects with EEP are calling for price revisions following the liberalization of the foreign exchange market.
“They are submitting letters but we are telling them to justify the revisions. This will take a longer time because we have to see the impact of the floating. Companies also need to substantiate the impacts with documents. We will hire consulting companies to review their requests,” said Ashebir.
Moges Mekonnen, communications director at EEP, said The Reporter the company would use alternative remedies for the power outages in Assosa while installation of the new power line is underway.
He also indicated that price revisions are underway for project costs that have inflated following the exchange rate floating in July.
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