On Tuesday 9 September 2025, Ethiopia officially inaugurated the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in Guba district, marking a historic milestone in African infrastructure. The GERD is more than a megaproject. It is a symbol of national pride, continental ambition, and the culmination of Ethiopia’s decades-long dream to harness the power of the Blue Nile.
The ceremony brought together regional leaders—including Kenya’s President William Ruto, Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, and African Union Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf—as well as the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Amor Mottley.
The launch of the GERD marks a pivotal moment in African infrastructure history, but the journey has been anything but easy.
The idea of a major dam on the Blue Nile goes back to the 1950s when the late Emperor Haile Selassie commissioned a study to identify potential sites. But Ethiopia lacked the resources, political stability, and international support to pursue such a vision.
It was not until April 2011, under the leadership of the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, that construction on GERD officially began. The project was framed as essential to Ethiopia’s economic transformation—a way to provide electricity to more than 60% of its population living without power, and to turn Ethiopia into a regional energy exporter.
Ethiopia faced one of its biggest hurdles early on: financing. Unlike other African mega-projects backed by the World Bank or IMF, GERD found no support from international financiers due to the geopolitical tensions it sparked.
Ethiopia turned inward to finance the $5 billion project. The National Bank of Ethiopia provided over 91% of the funding and the rest came from the people. Citizens contributed through bond purchases, civil servants gave a portion of their salaries, and a national fundraising drive mobilised ordinary Ethiopians at home and abroad.
GERD became not just a dam, but a people’s project—a rare example of a proudly African country that is willing and able to self-finance its own infrastructure projects.
No hurdle has loomed larger than the geopolitical tension with Egypt and Sudan. For Cairo, the Nile is a lifeline; 97% of Egypt’s water needs come from the river. The GERD, which sits just 30 kilometers from the Sudanese border, represents both an existential threat and a shift in power dynamics in the Nile Basin.
Egypt invoked the 1929 Nile Waters Agreement that was signed by Egypt and Great Britain (acting on behalf of Sudan) that gave Egypt preferential access and veto power over upstream projects. Egypt did not need permission to build the 1970 Aswan High Dam. Ethiopia was not party to the agreement and has never recognised these colonial treaties.
Over the years, the dispute between the two countries teetered on the brink of military confrontation. Egyptian leaders openly threatened action if Ethiopia filled the dam without agreement. Negotiations mediated by the African Union, the U.S., and others produced little more than temporary truces. Ethiopia pressed ahead regardless, filling the reservoir in stages since 2020. Each milestone has been celebrated in Addis Ababa as a sovereign victory over external pressure.
Beyond politics, the technical feat itself was monumental. GERD is Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam, standing 170 metres tall with a reservoir capacity of 74 billion cubic metres of water. Its installed capacity of 6,450 megawatts (MW) makes it one of the ten largest hydroelectric power plants in the world. Once fully operational, it is expected to double Ethiopia’s electricity generation, powering 65 million households and enabling exports to Sudan, Djibouti, Kenya, and potentially beyond.
While GERD cannot rival the scale of China’s Three Gorges or Itaipu on the border of Brazil and Paraguay, it is Africa’s biggest energy project by far and a bold assertion that Ethiopia, without the wealth of China or Brazil, could deliver a project of continental importance.
The choice of name is no accident. “Renaissance” evokes Ethiopia’s proud history as one of the few African nations never colonised, the seat of ancient empires, and a centre of Orthodox Christianity and African civilization. By christening the dam with this title, Ethiopia signals both a revival of its past glory and an ambition to shape Africa’s future.
The GERD is not just about electricity—it is about redefining Ethiopia’s place in the continent’s economic and political order.
With GERD, Ethiopia aims to do more than power its own cities. It wants to export electricity to neighbours, turning itself into East Africa’s energy hub. Success would strengthen Ethiopia’s claim as a continental leader and give it leverage in regional integration projects under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Yet challenges remain. Diplomatic negotiations with Egypt remain unresolved. Furthermore, climate change may exacerbate Nile water variability. Ethiopia must also ensure that revenues from GERD are managed transparently to deliver the promised economic uplift.
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) embodies the tension between national ambition and regional cooperation, between development needs and environmental realities.
For Ethiopia, it is a declaration that the continent can build its own destiny—even in the face of extraordinary obstacles. In this sense, GERD is not just a dam. It is Ethiopia’s renaissance, and perhaps the beginning of Africa’s too.
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