Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia will choose by December an international firm to conduct studies on Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam, which Cairo fears will reduce its share of potable Nile water. In a press conference held in Cairo on Sunday, Egypt's irrigation minister Hossam Moghazi said on Sunday this week's tripartite talks over the dam in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum succeeded in establishing the terms upon which the three countries will choose the firm. These terms have been sent to seven international consultancy firms, the minister said, which will be invited to Cairo to meet the three countries' representatives. The seven firms are from Germany, Switzerland, France, Holland and Australia, according to Sudan's irrigation minister, Moatez Moussa. The financial and technical offers of the firms will be accepted in late November, he said. A tripartite technical committee will hold a meeting on 4 December in Khartoum to study the offers and then choose the firm in Addis Ababa on 16 December. The firm will assess the dam's impact over the next five months. The firm's report will include the dam's impact on upstream Nile countries, Egypt and Sudan, as well as its environmental, social and economic effects. Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam, set to be the largest hydroelectric dam in Africa, has been a source of worry for Egyptian officials, who believe it will affect the country's access to the Nile's water. Ethiopia has denied that it will have any adverse affects. Some 40 percent of the dam has already been built, Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome said earlier this month. Source : Ahram online
