Ethiopia and China sign $1 billion power deal

April 26 (Bloomberg) — Ethiopia will receive funds from
China for a transmission line valued at $1 billion that will
bring electricity from a hydropower plant to the capital, Addis
Ababa according to a government official.

The 619-kilometer (385-mile) link from the 6,000-megawatt
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile River will be
constructed over the next three years by China Electric Power
Equipment and Technology, Deputy Prime Minister of Economy and
Finance Debretsion Gebremichael told reporters in Addis Ababa
today.

“The construction of this big transmission line will help
benefit our economy and to ensure our industrial development,”
he said. Funding for the two 500-kilovolt cables will come
primarily from the Export-Import Bank of China, Debretsion said.

Ethiopia, which according to the World Bank has the second-
highest hydropower potential in Africa after the Democratic
Republic of Congo, hopes to finish the self-funded $5-billion
Nile dam in 2018. The project will be the continent’s biggest
power plant.

–Editor: Emily Bowers