Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia are to agree within the coming few days on the contentious grace period to submit technical studies for the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, says Alaa Yassin, the irrigation minister’s advisor to dams and Nile basin affairs.
Sources from the ministry indicated signs of Egyptian-Ethiopian conflicts over the timeline granted for the international consulting offices to carry out the technical studies on the Ethiopian Renaissance dams. Egypt and Sudan insist granting the offices only six months in order to stick to the roadmap agreed on in the recent meeting in Khartoum, while Ethiopia stresses necessity to grant them 18 months to carry out the studies.
The sources hinted to other conflicts on the six-point evaluation for the offices. Addis Ababa require at least five points for the timeline, out of a total of 100 points for evaluating the offers. However, Cairo demands at least 30 points for a smaller period and that the rest of the points be distributed among the technical and financial contents, the teamwork and the previous experience.
Egypt and Sudan, according to the sources, requested to hold a meeting in Khartoum to reach solutions for the conflicts, however, Ethiopia refused and insisted on its proposal depending on the preliminary report by the international committee which recommended achieving the studies in no less than 18 months starting issuance of the report in May 2013.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
