Africa
Somaliland to receive electricity from Ethiopia
May 27, 2012 · 37 Comments
ADDIS ABABA — The Ethiopia Electric power Corporation (EEPCO) is on the point of embarking on an ambitious project that aims to connect East and South Africa countries on the basis of electric power transmission lines. According to Mihret Debebe, ECO of the corporation, Ethiopia will be at the center of this Eastern African electric highway project selling hydroelectric power to countries. The project, which kicks off by installing power transmission line to Kenya, will be by far the largest electric line transmission installation project in the continent.
“So far, only the border city of Moyale has been connected to the Ethiopian grid system,” said Mihret. However, thanks to the approval of the loan in the order of USD 1.3 billion by the World Bank and the African Development Bank this week, Ethiopia will sell electricity to more towns in Kenya. Mihiret noted that the design and study of the project has already been completed and it is ready to be floated for a bid. The two institutions reached at the decision to provide the loan after deliberating on the matter in Washington last week. Furthermore, Mihret noted that Somaliland is on the list to be the next Eastern African country to receive power from Ethiopia.
In a related story, the EEPCO announced that some 200 billion birr ($11.4b) is required within the next five years to complete electric power expansion.
Mihret said that it is possible to get that amount of money for the expansion and related works as Ethiopia is becoming trustworthy regarding its massive activities in electric power investment. And this helps the corporation to access loans from different potential lenders. The electric power projects that are arguably the most expensive investments in the country has a budget of over than 42 billion birr ($2.4b) for the current fiscal year.
Mihiret said that some 21 years ago, the electric power sector had only hundreds of millions of birr as annual budget which has currently reached hundreds of billions of birr. For the project that will be implemented in the next five years, all costs have been divided for each year and the draft budget is expected to be made official in the near future.
The required amount of the budget will mainly go to the construction of hydroelectric power plants, power transformation lines and for other electric power related infrastructures.
News Dire
May 27, 2012
Follow @somalilandpressBy Hassan Ali
Tags: Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Power, Somaliland news
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I heard They are building A dam in one of their River. Someone please tell
Me that this project isn't related to shabelle or juba river !
yes, we are on going to build shebele or juba b/c both of rivers are our resource …nobody can`t stop. we would do soon…
go and see on weikpidea by first writing ethiopia hydropower projects on google search and then clicking on wikepidea link
@Ayanle.
That will be Their death, first world community will not allow secondly Egypt will involve.
Just watch!
Ahmed, how long do you know Ethiopia? We never take anything from any country, we never give what is ours. Even the great Prophet Mohamed knew that, its in Quran.
We know what is our right and what is not..we can do some development works on our rivers.but not to completely stop the flow of rivers…that is not our right, our will.
Don’t lie because lying any shape or form it’s prohibited any religion,we never take what doesn’t belong to us it’s all myth.
I don’t understand why you bring Prophet Mohamed beace on him into This selling electricity business which will not last That long cuz world is going more Environmental freindy windfarm.
your god of Egypt and so called is nothing to us they now us and we now them history was concured for all of you, but all our resources are shall be for ethiopians b/c the source of all east africa water is from ethiopia nile,awash,turkana(gibe), shebele,ganale(juba) …
Don’t worry it is not. It is on the Nile.
Which Somaliland is this: Southern Somalia Somaliland or Northern Somaliland Republic?
There's always corporated confusion of the two? Please elucidate which Somalilandish is it?
Cheers.
Typo: Incorporated confusion not corporated.
Cheers.
For the benefit of clarity it's always beneficial for the Somalis to seperate the Southern Somalia Republic
from the Northern Somaliland Republic in all articles and political issues so as to know which's which.
Cheers.
I don’t like it . The Ethiopians are not a democratic country and if we connect our grid to their we don’t know what might happen. who will guarantee if the Ethiopians will continue the supply without interruptions accidental or otherwise. The national security of somaliland depends on electric power;. Besides a lot of companies and their workers will be out of business. Besides Ethiopia is doing one sided trade with Somaliland we only buy from them we don’t or can’t sell. I think we need to negotiate a trade agreement with Ethiopia before we buy its electricity. we are a Small country.Need to be with Equal footing with this populous.
Look bro, I think they will definitely negotiate. Besides, you can you can open up a new port and rent it to us and that will guarantee the electric flow. Even if you don't rent it….it is imperative for Ethiopia to sell the extra power and make more money;moreover, behaving good is the only option that we have, if we want to sell it to other countries too.
Democracy doesn't stop the trade trick.
peace
What has business to do with democracy? The whole world does business with Arab countries that are governed by either monarchs or religious regimes. Ethiopia has proved so far that it is a very dependable business partner, and that is what is important here.
Why should Ethiopia be trusted? First, Ethiopia needs the hard currency and the good bilateral relation with such a stable neighbour. Second, Ethiopia needs Somaliland ports. Third, as Meles Zenawi once stated, interstate trade the most important means to bring about trust and lasting peace in this very difficult neighborhood. I am very upbeat about this.
Will you look at these clowns,saying Ethiopia cant do this and cant do that, they have the right to develop their own natural resources as they they see fit and animal farm Mogadishu cant do anything about it. Secondly these rivers in South Somalia shabelle and Juba originate from Ethiopia as does the nile.
@Domastic Madar..
your selfish low life person in all direction.and willing to do anything or go any lenght to discredit his bro/sis,every country has The right to develop use it’s natural resources without harming Their neighbours livelihood civilaize world will not allow.secondly There’s Already dispute & disagreement between etho & kenyan goverment, building Giba 3 dam how it will effect people live around lake turkana in kenya it’s inhabit 300,000 let alone jubba shebelle rivers which relys on 10 million people.
World bank & other donars not interested funding anymore dams because Environmental impact damage to echo system,donars encourage building more windfarm Environmental freindly.
You can't stop progress. This is good news for Somaliland, a steady power supply will lead to more productivity. I am not sure what the private electricity providers in Somaliland will say about this. I suppose they will still be able to provide service to smaller communities until a proper national grid is constructed. I always marvel at Somaliland's ability to keep marching on. Sky is the limit, Insha-Allah.
The nay-sayers and negatives just keep going round in circles.
Thank you and God bless you!
Where were they, when the people were caught in the middle of war and drought, unable to move to the we lands and die?
Now, when we tried to use our rights on the shared rivers, just some portions of the water, everything got noisy.
When will this stop…after we finished our work…in a fully considerate way.
peace.
This project is between Somaliland and Ethiopia not between Somalia and Ethiopia. We will soon be building Berbera coridor to connect to mainland Ethiopia and Berbera port and of course pipeline to transport Gas from Ethiopia and may be a railway link. There is a big business potential here. Its just a matter of time insha allah.
BASELESS TALK.
Somaliland need to think about its natural interest just like Ethiopia. I DON’T think it’s in our national interest to deal in this one sided trade arrangement. The two countries have to have a fair trade arrangement where trade flows both ways.
No, it is not necessary for trade to flow both ways as long as one of the parties have the means to finance it. Ethiopia is not the only country in the world Somali land can export its products to, trade must be driven by comparative advantage and there is not point for Somali land to export its products to Ethiopia if does not have a comparative advantage in those products. As you know well Ethiopia has a huge comparative advantage in Khat and hydo electric power and there is no better option for Somali land than importing those products from Ethiopia. Of course, Somali land may provide port services to Ethiopia, but even that must be dependent of the competitiveness of Somali land in providing better services than its counterpart in Djibouti, and may be in Lamu.
best
The point. Which z world needs 2 understand is Ethiopia did not want grow alone we think that our neighbors. Will be benefited from our growth not only from electricity but also. Other infrastructure so our neighbors. Are our family
As per headline of the article Ethiopia is proposing electricity to Somaliland which ultimately is up to Somaliland to decide for it's need. I personally would suggest, Somaliland government must be carefully study and understand as to what this offer entails,
First and foremost, Somaliland has to look at the amount of power consumption Somaliland needs annually from Ethiopia versus the amount of power consumption Ethiopia is offering to Somaliland.
Electricity is very versatile commodity and it can get tricky if one is not careful when signing a binding contract. Note, this Ethiopian power project is in debt, the CEO is casting the fishing line with multiple baits dandling on it in the water to get bites.
Osman Qaal
Ethiopia’s development is good for the Area, true. But not at expense of the other countries. When Ethiopia wanted to build a futuristic infrastructure that included a port, a rail, and other major projects where did it go. Not Somaliland which is and could a natural partner. It headed south. They only think about Somaliland when they want to sell something. It is like an export only market. QAT, colleges, human beings, Produce and many other things when we try to export anything they put all sorts of obstacles even boarder closings. Most of the time Somaliland transport is confiscated by the notorious Ethiopian police. I don’t think balance in this trade. I think there should a trade agreement that spells out how we can trade so we can both benefit and prosper.
An octopus has many arms
With which to catch its prey —
In all, eight arms
Toseize the swarms
Of fish that swim its way.
Anonymous
Ethipia can keep its electricity. Any wise man knows what will happen if there is border skirmishes with these people; they will cut you off the grid to make a sitting duck. Before Ethiopia talks about trade and cooperation with neighbours, it must free the Somali occupied territories such Ogaden, Haud and reserve area. Then we will talk.
make you a sitting duck that is
Ethiopia wants to use its electric grid to bully the region. We still have many unresolved issues thus we should not allow Ethiopia to dominate North Somalia. The Somali government has to intervene and block the deal from IGAD, AU and the UN resolutions.
the five year project of ethiopian is 3 dams on river shable and juba . this is ganela i, ii, iii. at river omo gibe iii is almost completed and there more to be constrected. on river nile 3 huge mega dams. six wind farm and a total of 25000 mega watt.
Sam,
Somalia will never allow few Tigrays to block their two rivers, you guys need to rethink before you start another war which you cant handle.
I know Oromia is soon going to break away as soon as Meles and Tigrays are removed and all things come to an end.
Somali region is already taking steps to ensure it can protect itself from Tigray and Amhara invasion.
You guys are day dreaming.
kayse
we don't talk too much and we don't write too much. action is on the ground. the river will not be tourist attraction. every year million people severe on drought. no one will stop Ethiopian on river juba and shable. weak Somalian, that devastated by civil war and radical Islamist wouldn't stop Ethiopian to construct a dam. Ethiopian government already started the genale dam construction, that will ganereta 350 mega watt. .
it’s not gone happen for Three,first ethope needs fund to build These shanty dams secondly world will not allow to block people Their source of income Third Egypt will involve Than Eritrea last put not least oromo & somali regions will follow.
electricity will aid our everyday people, I say we use what we can from teh ethiopians and in that time we work on developing solar energy for ourselves! Slowly phasing out the Ethiopians, look at this only as wax aynu meelku gadhno. I could care less what happens to Somalias rivers it isnt my country and those mo fos hate us anyway!
Somalia is our brothers and sisters. Ethiopia is our neightbour. We are SOMALILAND
goddamn habesha hasbeens, they once again rob somalia these spiteful, malicious, ambitious creatures, they arrogantly say nobody can stop them, they are the source of somalias problems, these dogs. we defeated them in 77 and they ran away and called russian cuban help. CUBAN.i wish we wiped them out and genocided them. worthless habeshas. YOU SPITEFUL EVIL DOGS!
anyway they are only going to benefit from this and we are going to lose out, what a crock of crap deal.
VIVA ETHIOPIA AND SOMALIA !!!!!!