The Merowe/Hamadab dam being built on the Nile River in northern Sudan could cause serious environmental problems, two environmental advocacy groups have warned.
The International Rivers Network (IRN) and the Corner House said in a report that once completed, the 67m-high dam will create a 174km-long reservoir and flood an area of 476 square kilometres. It is currently the largest hydropower project being developed in Africa.
According to the report, the dam is likely to cause “sedimentation of the reservoir due to massive erosion, evaporation from the reservoir and infestation of the reservoir by water hyacinths”.
“It could also lead to massive daily fluctuations of the water level downstream of the dam, with corresponding impacts on downstream agriculture and the spread of waterborne diseases.”
In addition, the report said, the reservoir will inundate an area rich in history and antiquities dating back 5 000 years, “from the time of the ancient Nubian civilisation that preceded pharaonic Egypt”.
“It is clear that there is a great need for electricity generation in Sudan, and the affected residents in the area acknowledge that,” said Nicholas Hildyard, Corner House researcher and one of the co-authors of the report.
Ibrahim Mahmud Hamid, the Sudanese Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, said on Wednesday in Nairobi: “I think this is one of the best-organised projects with the best-organised response for those that have been affected.”
Expected to be completed between 2007 and 2009, the dam will generate 1 250 megawatts (MW) of hydroelectricity, roughly doubling Sudan’s current power-generating capacity.
The Merowe Dam Project Implementation Unit estimates that the dam project will displace 9 500 families, or about 50 000 people, from their land in the Nile Valley.
The Sudanese government has offered the affected families cash compensation for lost assets, a new house, land at resettlement sites and free utility services for two years after resettlement.
“I have been there to see their places. They have proper houses, they have proper facilities, they have farms, everything. And it is even better than the old villages,” Hamid said. “They have been compensated generously.”
“It is one of the most important projects, and it will change the whole situation in the area,” he added. “I was there, and they are now constructing an airport, a bridge, roads, everything. The whole area is moving now. About $2-billion will be spent in that area and it will bring it alive.”
About 10 000 affected people have been resettled from the fertile Nile Valley to the El Multaga resettlement site in the Nubian desert since June 2003.
The IRN/Corner House report said the soil at the resettlement site is so poor, the farmers cannot grow produce to sell on the market.
“Those that have been resettled there simply can’t make a livelihood,” Hildyard said. “The land is desert and extremely unproductive. It is just sand.”
After meeting with the affected communities and visiting El Multaga, the two organisations said most of the free services, such as water, electricity and fertiliser, are not in place.
When asked about people who complain that they have not received the compensation and free services they were promised, Hamid said these measures have been provided for in the compensation programme.
“They [free services and compensation] will come, but they will come later. They will come in phases. Some groups in the opposition want to use it as a political issue,” the minister said.
“All the problems now are with those who are very far from the dam, and they will be affected later on, in 2007. They think that they have to get the same things as those who are in the direct site of the dam.”
The Merowe/Hamadab dam, budgeted at a cost of $1,2-billion, is financed by China’s Export Import Bank and several Arab financial institutions.
The report urged private investors and donors — who have pledged more than $4,5-billion over three years to support the peace and reconstruction process in Sudan — to ensure that the benefits of new development and investment projects are widely shared, and the rights of affected communities and the environment are protected.
According to the report, Sudan’s electricity-generating capacity before the project consists of about 760MW of thermal power and about 320MW of hydropower.
In a country with a population of close to 40-million, the national power utility has only 700 000 customers. About 70% of the electricity is consumed in the capital, Khartoum. — Irin