By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

February 21, 2011 (ADDIS ABABA) - International environmental groups, members of civil society and other concerned individuals on Sunday held a protest in Kenya to petition the Chinese government against financing the construction of Ethiopia’s controversial mega-dam.

People of Turkana (AFP)

Sudan Tribune has learnt that the protesters, lobbied by Friends of Lake Turkana, marched to the Chinese embassy in Nairobi where they delivered a petition calling on China to stop its firms from engaging in the dam project, which is being under construction by an Italian company.

Campaigners argue that the construction of Gibe III Dam will devastate the fragile ecosystems of the lower Omo Valley and Kenya’s Lake Turkana, on which 500,000 poor farmers, herders and fisher folk rely for their livelihoods.

They have termed the project a risk to the environment. The petition also claims that the dam could trigger a resource-based conflict between communities living around the Kenya-Sudan-Ethiopia border.

"The dam is going to reduce the Omo river’s flow into lake Turkana, which is the main source of livelihood among the Turkana people, said Ikal Angelei, director of Friends of Lake Turkana, after the march in Nairobi.

However the Ethiopian government disagrees and insists it will continue the project with or without foreign funds.

Despite the growing protests, Addis Ababa says that the hydroelectric dam will not damage the environment and the water is only needed to generate electricity and will not affect its flow.

According to Ethiopian officials, the power generated out of it will be used for its population and to sell power to neighbouring countries, including Kenya.

Gibe III is located 450km southwest of the capital, Addis Ababa, near the border with Kenya. It is the largest project of its sort ever to be implemented in Ethiopia and will be Africa’s second largest hydroelectric dam.

In an interview with a state news agency, project manager Azeb Asnake, said yesterday that approximately 41% of construction of the 243m high dam is complete.

She said roller-compacted concrete work will be launched soon. The roller-compacted concrete dam will be the first of its type to be constructed in Ethiopia.

“When it goes operational, the project will raise by 95% the current power supply in the country” she said adding, “it will have power generating capacity of 1900MW electric power annually”.

Currently some 3,000 Ethiopians and foreigners are engaged in the construction of the project.

Salini Construttori, the Italian construction company that built Gilgel Gibe II (420MW) and Tana Beles (460MW) is constructing the Gibe III dam. The Ethiopian government has been accused of awarding such projects to this company without a competitive international tender. Opponents say it was negotiated directly with Salini Construttori, in violation to government’s procurement guidelines.

(ST)