The hydroelectric Dam on Nile when completed will generate 5,250 KW of power and is expected to cost about 4.8 billion Euros.

Zenawi pointed out,” the topography of our country is such that our hydropower dams are to be built across deep gorges, as a result their adverse impact on the flora and fauna of the vicinity is very limited.”

Speaking about the impact on downstream, he said most the dams in the country have to be built on cross-country rivers particularly the Nile, and is therefore guided by the principle of doing no appreciable harm to down stream user when build dams.

He further stressed that in any case hydropower dams use water to generate electricity but do not consume it, hence they can not possibly do any appreciable harm to downstream users.

“Dams in Ethiopia prevent flooding in lower riparian countries, they prevent siltation of dams downstream, last but not least our dams actually increase the flow of water in the rivers, because our dams built as they are in a deep gorges of our cool land wet highlands lose a lot less water to evaporation as the surface of water exposed to the sun is much lower than in the lower riparian countries.” He added,

Speaking about opponent to the dam building Meles said, “ I am not a believer in conspiracy theories but if I were I would concluded that these people want Africa to remain as it is currently is with all its misery and poverty so that they can come and visit nature in its pristine state in the winter every so often.”

Melse had also something for his opponent in Egyptian, he said, irrational is the position taken by some politicians in Egypt to oppose virtually every project in the Nile in upper riparian countries including hydropower that have no consumptive use of water and have beneficial impact on all.”

Speaking about the financing which Ethiopia is saying to build it by it own resources, he said, We need the support of our partners to build the dam he then went to say “If our partners deterred from doing so because of the noisy campaign of environmental extremist and some politicians with old fashioned ideas, they will in effect be condemning millions of Africans to poverty.”

He said: “We are so convinced of our justice cause, so sure of the strength of our arguments, so convinced of the role of our hydropower projects in eliminating poverty in our country that we will use every ounce of our strength, every dime of money that we can use to complete our programme.”

“Indeed at a time when we are being told to reduce carbon emission and at a time when the risk of nuclear power are visible to every one, it would doublespeak of the highest type for our partners to turn their back on the environmentally and socially most responsible programmes for power generation in our continent.”

According to the Ethiopian Prime Minster Ethiopia’s Plan for 2025 is based on three pillars, the First is to generate virtually all its electricity from clean and renewable sources centered hydroelectric but one that also include wind,geo-thermal and bi-gas from sugarcane plantation.

The second pillar is maximizing the use of electric city and bio-gas for transport and other energy needs. The third pillar is to carry out massive re-afforestation in which some 15 million hectares of land will be covered.