Ethiopia clearing forest to begin GERD filling

Addis Ababa, June 26, 2020 (FBC) –As part of the efforts to start  filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Ethiopia has begun clearing of forest.

The clearance operations were launched yesterday on 1,000 hectares of land, said Beshir Abdurahim, director general of the Benishangul Gumuz regional state’s job creation and enterprises development agency.

In order to commence the filling of the renaissance dam in July, enterprises consisting of 2,000 members have started the clearance activities, he indicated.

According to him, the clearance operations are expected to be completed in less than a month. The government has allocated more than 32 million birr for the operations.