海角大神

The book, a history of Hoover聽Dam, fell from the dashboard as Simegnew Bekele drove through the rugged mountains where the engineer is leading construction work on聽Ethiopia'蝉听尘补蝉蝉颈惫别狈颈濒别听搁颈惫别谤听诲补尘.

"This book," he said, picking it up, "I am reading it now ... It's a fascinating story. This聽dam聽too (has) a history one day someone will write about."

Simegnew's sentiment illustrated the great expectations of a聽dam聽that has raised tensions between this Horn of Africa nation and Egypt, which is concerned the ongoing project will diminish its share of聽Nile聽River waters. Reading the book, a gift from Ethiopians he met in New York recently, the engineer has come to see similarities between the Ethiopian dam-in-progress and Hoover聽Dam, the Great Depression-era project that in its time became an icon of American enterprise under difficult economic conditions.

"Hoover聽Dam聽was constructed when America was (in) depression," Simegnew said. "It was an enormous success. I am sure our聽dam聽too will herald a bright future for this country and also for the whole region."聽

Despite the concerns of Nile-dependent Egypt,聽Ethiopia聽鈥攚hose economy suffers frequent power failures 鈥攈as vowed to proceed with the聽dam聽that would become the biggest hydro-electric power station in Africa. In May,Ethiopia聽started to divert聽Nile聽waters to make way for the $4.2 billion聽dam聽which, when it is finished, will have the capacity to produce 6,000 megawatts of electricity.聽Ethiopia's聽national electricity corporation says potential buyers of聽Ethiopia's聽electricity will include the two Sudans, Kenya, Djibouti, Somalia, Uganda and even wary Egypt.

In聽Ethiopia's聽Benishangul-Gumuz region near Sudan, some 800 kilometers (500 miles) from the capital, workers labor under intensely hot conditions and gigantic machines smash boulders in order to make the聽dama reality by July 2017. Even as Egyptian and Ethiopian diplomats talk over the聽dam's聽impact on the volume of Blue聽Nile聽waters flowing to Egypt, construction work is proceeding apace here in a sign of聽Ethiopia'sdetermination to resist Egyptian pressure. Some 5,000 Ethiopians, joined by 200 expatriates from 20 nations, work in shifts 24 hours a day. Visitors here have to go through multiple security checkpoints that are manned by soldiers wearing "anti-guerrilla" tags on their fatigues. The Italian construction firm Salini is building thedam聽while the Chinese company Electric Power Equipment and Technology Co. Ltd. is building power lines for it.

Simegnew, the engineer, told reporters last week that some of the diverted聽Nile聽waters are accumulating in a temporary coffer聽dam, and officials say that the filling of the reservoir will start next year. Power lines to connect the聽dam's聽output with the national grid are being put up, and cables from the national grid extend to Djibouti, Sudan and, later, Kenya.

"During the filling of the reservoir, which will take five to six years, we won't have any fixed impoundment rate to make sure the water flow downstream will not be significantly affected," Simegnew said.

Ethiopia's聽Nile聽project has won the support of upstream countries in East and Central Africa that have been meeting under the banner of the聽Nile聽Basin Initiative, which endorsed the new聽Nile聽River Cooperative Framework Agreement. That accord, ratified last month by聽Ethiopia's聽parliament, was conceived to replace the 1929 treaty written by Britain that awarded Egypt veto power over other countries'聽Nile聽projects. Sudan and Egypt signed a deal in 1959 splitting the聽Nile聽waters between them without giving other countries consideration. Egyptian politicians have suggested attacks against聽Ethiopia聽to sabotage the聽dam, and Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi last month warned that "all options are open" to challenge the project.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said last week that, while he was willing to accommodate Egypt's concerns, the continued constructing of the聽dam聽and its size are "red lines" that will not be crossed by the negotiations.

If the聽dam聽is completed without incident, it would be a remarkable achievement for聽Ethiopia's聽leaders who dreamed of something聽big聽and wanted an equally grand name for the聽dam. Originally a secret project called X, the聽dam聽was later called the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance聽Dam.

David Shinn, former U.S. ambassador to聽Ethiopia, said he doubted Egypt's dispute with聽Ethiopia聽over the聽Nile River would degenerate into armed conflict.

"Following long periods of silence, there are periodic outbursts as we have seen in the past month," said Shinn, who is now a professor at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs. "I expect this trend to continue but not to result in conflict between the two countries."

The Ethiopian government, which secured a $1 billion loan from China for power lines for the聽Nile聽dam, says it will continue to raise more funds domestically. Government employees have for the second time paid their one-month salary to buy bonds the government is selling. Private banks are ordered by the central bank to buy bonds worth millions of the Ethiopian birr.

Yilma Seleshi of the Ethiopian Water Resource Institute says the聽dam聽would consistently bring in hard currency for at least a century, returning the massive investment it is requiring. In his study presented during a meeting at聽Ethiopia's聽Addis Ababa University last week, he estimated that聽Ethiopia聽would earn 2 million euros in daily income from power sales to neighboring countries.