Ethiopia has rejected a proposal by Egypt that would halt the construction of its dam on the Blue Nile, saying the facility meets international standards with insignificant impact on water volumes downstream.

Egypt wants another study conducted before further construction of the dam can proceed.

At a ceremony to observe Nile Day in Kampala on February 21, Egyptian ambassador to Uganda Ahmed Abdel Aziz Mostafa said the project was likely to reduce the volume of water flowing to the North African state.

“There are about 2,000 to 2,500 cubic billion metres of water in the Blue Nile, of which Egypt gets only 55.5 cubic billion metres. Egyptians get 620 cubic metres of water per person, way below the international standard of 1,000 cubic metres for every citizen per year,” Mr Mostafa said.

However, Ethiopia’s Minister for Water Alemayehu Tegenu dismissed calls for a halt to the project, saying the dam had been designed to internationally acceptable standards.

“What we are doing is fair and very acceptable… we do not need another study,” he said.

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Disagreements

Construction of the 6,000-megawatt Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on Ethiopia’s Blue Nile, started in April 2011 and is due to be completed in 2017.

According to a 1929 treaty, no activity would be carried out on the Nile that would lessen or reduce the flow of water to Egypt. In 1959, another treaty was signed allotting 55.5 billion cubic metres to Egypt and 18.5 billion cubic metres to Sudan.

In an attempt to share the Nile waters “fairly and equitably” Ethiopia, Egypt, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, DR Congo, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda, have spent the past decade negotiating under the Nile Basin Initiative umbrella.

In 2011, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi signed the Nile River Basin Co-operative Framework Agreement (CFA) also known as the Entebbe Accord.

The CFA envisaged that the Nile Commission would be established upon ratification by at least six riparian countries.

But, Egypt and Sudan refused to sign the new agreement, sticking to the 1959 deal, ignoring other countries like Ethiopia and Uganda that also share the Nile waters.

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South Sudan, which also shares the Nile, has promised to sign the agreement soon.