The assistant Irrigation for Dams and Nile River Minister and spokesman for the Renaissance Dam file Alaa Yassin said the National Technical Committee (composed of 12 experts from Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia) will receive in mid-May, a technical offer from French and Dutch companies on studies done on the Ethiopian dam.
Yassin said Egypt's role in the release of the 27 Ethiopians detained in Libya will be reflected positively on the progress of negotiations with Ethiopia around the dam, and contribute to increasing confidence between Cairo and Addis Ababa.
The committee will hold a meeting in Addis Ababa, in the second half of May, to see whether the modified technical offer matches the criteria established by the committee, he added.
The meeting will be followed by the approval of the three countries on the supply agreement, as well as the date and place of signing a contract with the two companies. Implementation of the contract will begin at the end of May.
Egypt is keen on saving time in order to prevent any negative impacts on the construction of the dam, as well as on Egypt and Sudan's share of the Nile, Yassin mentioned.
Financial expenses to be paid to the two companies will be equally divided between the three countries.
The reason for requesting a new technical offer is the choice of the three countries. They need a new technical offer to make sure the two companies will cooperate and be committed to the same criteria in their studies.
Water ministers from each of the three countries met last month in Addis Ababa and selected two companies to implement the dam studies, which will determine, in accordance with scientific and practical criteria, the repercussions of the dam on Sudan and Egypt.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
