Latest news with #AbbasSharaky
Egypt Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- Egypt Independent
Expert warns GERD's damage to Egypt's water share is at 90 billion cubic meters
Professor of Geology and Water Resources at Cairo University Abbas Sharaky warned that the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) has clearly harmed Egypt's share of Nile River water over the past five years, during which Ethiopia filled the reservoir of the dam. Sharaky explained in a post on his Facebook page: 'The damage is clear, with approximately 90 billion cubic meters being held back over five years, including 60 billion cubic meters stored in the lake, in addition to the loss of approximately 20-30 billion cubic meters due to evaporation and seepage into the ground.' He noted that Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty has reiterated Egypt's right to legitimately defend itself and its water interests if any harm occurs. 'What is meant here is that in the event of serious harm to citizens, the government cannot prevent it from reaching them, and this does not mean, as some understand, that Egypt has not been harmed by the GERD so far,' he explained. The state has been able to provide sufficient quantities of water thanks to the High Dam and some measures and projects that cost the general budget more than LE 500 billion during the years of filling the GERD, the expert said. Sharaky pointed out that these projects include agricultural wastewater treatment plants, limiting the area for rice cultivation, developing field irrigation, lining canals, replacing agricultural varieties with water-saving ones, and a 100,000-acre greenhouse project, among others. He added that Egypt has always emphasized that it is not against development in any country, especially the Nile headwaters, provided it does not harm others. Sharaky explained that there is clear cooperation with Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Tanzania on various projects, most notably the construction of the Julius Nyerere Dam in Tanzania. Hope for an agreement The expert explained that the door is still open to reach a binding legal agreement that sets rules for the recurrent filling and operation of the GERD – especially after the completion of the initial five-year filling, which was a major point of contention in previous negotiations over the filling period, and it is preferable for this agreement to be reached before the official opening. In response to Ethiopia's statements regarding the opening of the GERD in September and Egypt's invitation to attend the ceremony, Sharaky said that Egypt can only attend the opening if an agreement is reached. 'Anything other than that, the invitation to attend constitutes a disdain and provocation to Egypt and Sudan, and the Foreign Minister described it as absurd. Egypt also strongly rejects any future Ethiopian announcement to construct additional dams on the Nile River through unilateral decisions.'
Egypt Independent
21-07-2025
- Science
- Egypt Independent
Expert explains what Ethiopia is hiding regarding the GERD
Professor of Geology and Water Resources at Cairo University Abbas Sharaky said that the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) reached its full storage level of 60 billion cubic meters of water on Sunday, at a level of 638 meters. In a post on his Facebook account on Sunday, he explained that the water reached this level in the GERD lake upon the completion of the first filling on September 5, 2024. After that, Ethiopia opened three gates to release excess water until they were completely closed on December 24, 2024. The GERD's reservoir level dropped by only five billion cubic meters over a 10-month period (September 2024 – July 2025), while the power generation turbines were supposed to consume at least 30 billion cubic meters if operating at 50 percent efficiency. However, the reservoir level remained unchanged until the onset of the rains on July 1, and then returned to full storage on Sunday. 'The inefficient operation of the turbines required a gradual release of water starting in April, but the gates were not opened to prevent the public from discovering that the turbines were not operating efficiently and remained closed,' the professor noted. He said that, 'Two gates of the upper spillway must be opened to maintain the actual storage of 60 billion cubic meters, even though the lake can hold an additional four billion cubic meters at a level of 640 meters, the level of the middle spillway.' The Egyptian expert did not rule out the possibility that Ethiopia would continue to store water until it reaches the middle spillway level. In this case, the filling would be complete by the end of this month, given that the average flow in the coming days will range between 350 and 400 million m3/day. Sharaky emphasized that Sudanese dams do not store water at the beginning of the season and their gates are currently open. Water was expected to be released from GERD starting on Sunday, if the spillway gates are opened, or from the top of the middle spillway on July 31. He added that, 'In any case, the High Dam is ready to receive floodwater.'
Egypt Independent
12-07-2025
- Business
- Egypt Independent
Expert comments on state of GERD funding and involvement from the US and Arab world
A Professor of Geology and Water Resources at Cairo University Abbas Sharaky discussed US President Donald Trump's statements regarding US funding for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). During a phone interview with Amr Adib on his show 'al-Hekaya' (The Story), on MBC Masr, Sharaky said that Egypt has been urging countries from the beginning not to finance any projects without Egypt's approval. 'Indeed, there is no funding from the World Bank or the European Union, but there is indirect funding from some countries, including the US,' he noted. Sharaky pointed out that China is financing the electricity grid and turbines with approximately two billion dollars, via Chinese banks. He also explained that the company currently building GERD is an Italian company. 'There is a well-known businessman of Ethiopian origin who was involved in GERD and has investments, but most of the primary investments are from Ethiopians themselves,' he said. Sharaky noted that the US grants Ethiopia approximately one billion dollars annually, which the Ethiopian government can use for the GERD and other projects. He referred to statements made by the US ambassador to Addis Ababa in 2021, in which the ambassador said that the US had provided approximately three billion dollars to Ethiopia over the previous three years. Sharaky stated: 'These three years were during Trump's first term.' He explained that Ethiopia announced in February 2011 that the cost of GERD was $4.8 billion, adding: 'But I believe it exceeded eight billion dollars, and perhaps even surpassing $10 billion.' Sharaky explained that most of the announced funding is from within Ethiopia through bonds issued by Ethiopians both at home and abroad. He added however that several nations, including an Arab country, invested three billion dollars in Ethiopia in 2018, including one billion in the Central Bank of Ethiopia, which the Ethiopian government can direct in any direction – such as with the GERD project.
Egypt Independent
29-06-2025
- Science
- Egypt Independent
Floods expected in Khartoum following failure in Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam operation
The Professor of Geology and Water Resources at Cairo University, Abbas Sharaky, said there is a high probability of flooding on both sides of the Blue Nile and the Nile rivers near the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, at the end of August, similar to before the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Sharaky explained in a Facebook post that the dam's reservoir is currently almost full (about 55 billion cubic meters) and has not been used in recent months. This year's incident is an exception due to turbine failure at the GERD, he noted, and it is expected that the natural flood of the Blue Nile will be fully discharged by the end of July. 'This disruption in the operation of GERD coincides with the expected increase in rainfall this year, according to IGAD's climate forecasting and application models for the coming months,' he explained. Despite the severity of the floods and their damage to some residents in Sudan, he noted that they are the main source of flood irrigation for many farmers along the Blue Nile, compensating them for the lack of water reaching them in the past two years (2023-2024) as a result of the large storage in the GERD of about 43 billion m3 in that period. Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
