GERD structure contains cracks: university professor

GERD structure contains cracks: university professor

The international committee of experts formed by Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan to study the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in 2013 have recently questioned the safety of the dam.

Hany Sweilem, Academic Director of the Water Department at the German University of Aachen, said, confirming that the Saddle Dam (the auxiliary or complementary dam for the Renaissance Dam project)’s structure has cracks.

Sweilem added, during a phone call to the “Al-Hekaya” program, presented by Amr Adib, on MBC Masr satellite channel, on Monday evening, that the Ethiopian dam consists of two parts, the first of which is the concrete part, and the second is a dam with a length of five kilometers .

He pointed out that the construction of the dam was completed two years ago, adding: “Anyone who accesses the Google Earth app and compares the images of the dam in 2020 and 2022 will find cracks as wide as the walls of the dam facing the water it receives.”

Sweilem stressed the seriousness of the situation if the water level reached 595 meters, with the continued existence of those cracks, adding at the same time, that he could not confirm whether the dam would collapse, simply by relying on satellite images.

Sweilem said