Egypt, Sudan worry about water as Ethiopia's mega dam opens

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), 14 years in the making, will be officially inaugurated this week.

At 1,800 meters (nearly 6,000 feet) wide and 175 meters high and capable of holding back up to 74 billion cubic meters of water in a reservoir covering an area larger than the city of London, the massive structure is the largest dam in Africa.

The new dam on the Blue Nile, a main tributary of the Nile, has already been generating renewable hydroelectric power since early 2022, and the project eventually expects to double Ethiopia's current electricity capacity. As much as half of the country's population doesn't have reliable access to electricity, leaving many to rely on burning polluting fuels such as wood, coal and gas.