Ethiopia Builds New Hydropower Dam on Omo River, Experts Say Project Lies Outside Nile Basin

Water resource experts have revealed that Ethiopia is constructing a new dam on the Omo River, described as the country’s second-largest hydropower project after the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which holds 74 billion cubic meters of water and has raised concerns in Egypt and Sudan.

According to local reports, the new Koysha Dam project was launched shortly after the inauguration of the GERD, with Ethiopian officials recently announcing that the facility is nearing completion.

Former Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Mohamed Nasr Allam stated that the Omo River originates in Ethiopia and flows into Kenya, not toward the Nile Basin. “The river is not one of the Nile’s tributaries,” Allam clarified on his official Facebook page, emphasizing that the new dam poses no direct impact on Egypt’s share of Nile waters.

Allam also accused Addis Ababa of “creating disputes with neighboring countries,” including Kenya, whose president attended the GERD’s opening ceremony earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Nader Nour El-Din, Professor of Water Resources at Cairo University, explained that Ethiopia’s river systems are diverse and mostly independent from the Nile Basin.

“Ethiopia has nine river basins, only three of which are part of the Nile system,” Nour El-Din wrote on Facebook. “The Blue Nile contributes about 49 billion cubic meters annually, and the GERD was built on it with a storage capacity of 74.5 billion cubic meters.”

Experts say the Koysha project, situated on the Omo River in southwestern Ethiopia, is designed primarily for hydropower generation and does not affect the Nile’s flow. However, its construction underscores Ethiopia’s ongoing push to expand large-scale dam projects across multiple river basins, a strategy that continues to stir regional debate over water management and cooperation