Sudan Vision Daily News Paper Official Website - The Meroe Dam is A Multipurpose Project Says State Minister of Irrigation

Interviewed by Ghada A. Al-Jamal , The idea of building the Meroe Dam is quite old. It was proposed during the 1940's. However, it was discarded for political and security reasons related to stability in Sudan during that period.

Later, the project of a dam as big as the Meroe Dam on the Nile course north of Khartoum was a dream for successive Governments in Sudan. However, the size and expense prevented construction. The Salvation Government utilized the dŽtente taking place in its regional and international relations and proceeded to apply for Arab funds to finance the project. It succeeded in attracting finance from Arabian Gulf funds. This project will have economic and social results for inhabitants of the region and for Sudan in both the near and distant future. The inhabitants who were directly affected will be provided with all the basic services of health, education, electric energy, water supply, and environmental health at improved standards. They will have bigger agricultural plots than those they had before the Dam. For Sudan at large, the agricultural areas will increase and Sudan will be able to produce three times more electric energy. However, problems have emerged between the Dam Administration and the dislodged inhabitants, especially the Manaseer tribe. That was related to the site proposed for their resettlement. The problem escalated to the extent of rebellion. Some circles started to 'trade' in this problem and other issues related to the Meroe Dam. Sudan Vision discussed their problem with the State Minister of Irrigation, Executive Director to the Meroe Dam, Engineer Osama Abdalla. Sudan Vision asked him about his positon. Q: Some people described the Meroe Dam Project as a political-developmental project at the same time. How far is that true? A: Meroe Dam is one of the major projects in the country. Basically it is a developmental, economic, social and multipurpose project. We regard it as a project to consolidate national unity in the country. Its benefits will not be restricted to one part of the country, but to all other parts. The Dam's electronic power will feed the national network by about (1250) megawatts, which is equivalent to double the present electric energy production in the country. It will also link the Red Sea and Northern States for the first time to the National Electricity Network. In addition to that, it will contribute to controlling floods and providing appreciable fishery projects as well as lowering electric energy experiences and motivating industrial and agricultural production. This project definitely represents dreams and aspirations of the majority of Sudanese people through past periods. Q: Erecting dams across the Nile Course was, and still is, a very sensitive issue that can cause tensions between the Nile Valley countries. How do you regard the reactions accompanying this project? A: No reactions were recorded at all. Sudan has been moving within the framework of its rights stipulated in the Nile Water Agreement and within the good relations between Sudan and all countries of the Nile Basin. Sudan is an active member in the Initiative for 10 Nile Basin countries. The Meroe Dam projects falls within Sudan's share of Nile waters. Moreover hydroelectric generation projects help in reorganizing the river flow. Q: The Dam will hold large amounts of water including about 10 billion cubic metres of Sudan's water that usually passes over to Egypt, which suffers considerable water shortages. Will that affect Sudanese-Egyptian relations? A: Relations with sister Egypt in this respect had been preserved within the Nile Water Agreement. Details of that agreement are being sponsored by the Joint Technical Committee between the two countries. It inspects the two countries' plans for exploiting Nile water to the benefit of both nations through development plans. This Committee welcomed the Meroe Dam Project. That was affirmed in all the successive minutes of its meetings. This came in the procedural side. The Dam has several benefits for Egypt; this is quite obvious from the book written by the Egyptian Minister of Irrigation, Dr. Mohamed Abu Zeid, under the title "Water, A source of Tension in the Twenty First Century." He stressed the necessity for erecting the Meroe Dam as a radical solution for the passage of water into the sea. Q: Minister of Irrigation, Engineer Kamal Ali Mohamed, spoke last week in a symposium on Water about the best way to exploit water. Won't that contradict with some Nile Basin countries talking about revising the agreement in the distribution of the Nile Waters? A: This is just a kind of 'political bargaining'; it takes the form of incitement. It is a well-established fact that Nile Basin waters are quite sufficient to cover the needs of all 10 Nile Basin countries if exploited properly, as Engineer Kamal Ali Mohamed stated. Moreover, the Nile Basin initiative is proceeding through this course. Q: Some say that the project is mainly economic without touching on other sides whether environmental or else social. A: The Meroe Dam Project is a multi-purpose project; consequently it covers all sides without any of them dominating the others. On the contrary, all sides work together with the aim of achieving the objectives of this project, which focuses on the human being development and on advancement of his life. This project is the only one on which elaborate and intensive studies were made about its environmental and social impact. All studies affirmed the feasibility of the project. There were, however, some negative side effects, but the study recommended the establishment of monitoring mechanisms to be executed by Sudanese and foreign joint experience. The positive effect on excavation of antiquities had been reflected by the success of international campaign launched by the Meroe Dam Project Executive Unit in collaboration with the National Corporation for Antiquities, which would never had been formed had it not been for the Meroe Dam. As for the issue of resettling those affected and their compensation, we offer this experiment for the whole world to be followed as an example of justice, peacefulness, and transparency. It had been prepared with specifications that far exceed the present available reality. It even exceeds the United Nations Study made by the Canadian Moneco Akra, which made the feasibility study for the project and was financed by the World Bank in the 1980s. Q: Did Dam Administration policies neglect points of view of those affected in the Manaseer area, leading them to incite rebellion against the Government for the first time in modern history? A: This is not true. A fair outlook on this issue will assure some well-established facts. As an affected group, Manaseer had a major part and effective participation in setting rules and regulations which govern compensation and organize resettlement through their local committees and their representatives in the Joint Committee for those affected which includes, beside, Manaseer, two groups, Amri and Hamadab. After a period of strenuous labour the regulations, which organize the resettlement process, were issued. The rates of compensation were approved according to those regulations, which were accepted by all parties headed by the Manaseer group. The resettlement process started and is proceeding successfully as the resettlement of Hamadab is about to be completed. In addition, the Amri region will soon be completely resettled. Work in the first agricultural project for the Manaseer region in Makalorab area south of Al Damar, had come a long way. All this work is proceeding on consent by the affected groups including Manaseer. However, we have been hearing about a specific group of Manaseer residing in Khartoum who chose to adopt a trend of demands, which fall out of the authority assigned the Meroe Dam Project Unit such as the exemption from electric bills for 40 years in addition to allowing Manaseer ownership of the Dam reservoirs together with other demands. I would like to comment here that there are clear regulations that oblige the unit towards those affected. Hamadab and Amri citizens were resettled according to that. It will be only just and fair to apply the same regulations in the case of the Manaseer whom we are quite sure, that group in Khartoum does not represent according to the rules and regulations issued. The Meroe Dam Project Execution Unit will proceed in this line and we call on this group to resort to reason and public interest and refrain from political agenda and minor interests. Q: Why did you refuse to talk to the committee of affected Manaseer? How can that harmonize with one of the Manaseer stating that the administration is ready to discuss any issue with any specific party? A: We never refused to talk to any of the affected people. Some of them were even members in the committees, which led negotiations with the Meroe Dam Project Execution Unit for quite a long time until they succeeded in approval of the regulations. We assure you that we are still ready to talk with any party or individual about the issue of those affected. What we are reserved about is the claim that our committee is the only legitimate representative for Manaseer. This is unacceptable and oversteps citizens' will as represented directly by their committees as stipulated in the rules and regulations issued. Q: Manaseer denounced the movement but they held you responsible for that and called for separation between the Dislodgement Administration and that of the Dam? A: Your question acquits the Meroe Dam Execution Unit from what that group does. By denouncing that movement, Manaseer assert that the majority of their people regard the trend by the Dam Administration and the regulations, which organize the resettlement process, as a safety valve preserving their rights. We never closed doors against anybody including this group. We have met with them several times and at various levels. We would just like others to understand that the Meroe Dam Project Executive Unit has authority within the regulations that organize work. Each individual will have all of his rights. If anybody has any claims out of the frame of these regulations, he has every right to pursue them through directing his claims to the circles concerned. Q: The Meroe dam attracted billions of dollars from Arabs. It is the second project that receives such appreciable financing after the Sudanese petrol project. What are the conditions set by the financing funds with respect to the efficiency of administration, operation, and performance? Did those funds impose any specific policy to retrieve the value of loans? A: Arab funds did not state any conditions for financing the Meroe Dam. All delegations of experts and technicians from these funds who visited Sudan commended the standards of performance and efficiency among those responsible for the project. These agreements were signed with the Sudanese Government as represented by the Ministry of Finance. They were not signed with the Meroe Dam Project Execution Unit. Consequently the repayment of those loans will be made by the Ministry of Finance, which represents the government of Sudan. The loans will be repaid through a period of about thirty years. Moreover, these agreements were quite open texts that were the base for all development projects in the Sudan for more than thirty years. No additional conditions, whatsoever, were set for the Meroe Dam Project. They were the same conditions set by the Arab Fund to finance the Atbara-Haya-Port Sudan Road. Q: Equipment and machinery used in constructing the Dam are the largest ever to work in a development project in the whole of the Sudan. Is it true that there are negotiations underway to sign agreements with the Chinese side to erect other dams? A: It is too early to start talking about that, but the government is keen on executing a number of major projects that will achieve progress in the country. This would of course be according to priorities set by the government. I must seize this opportunity here to express gratitude to all parties from the Arab governments and the People's Republic of China, that participated in financing the Dam Project. About equipment and machinery working in the dam, they are definitely the largest of those working in the field if development in Sudan. Dam erection is regarded as one of the largest fields of work at the international level. Even the companies working in this field are quite limited. Unfortunately Sudan's experience in this field had stopped for over forty years. That was when Roseiris Dam was completed. However what is going on now in the Meroe Dam with respect to architectural work is a new experience through which we can qualify and train all Sudanese architects in addition to Sudanese universities.