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Ethiopia seeks new company to complete dam construction

August 28, 2018 at 12:29 pm

Ethiopia has cancelled a contract awarded to Metals and Engineering Corporation (METEC), run by the Ethiopian defence ministry, due to repeated scheduled work delays, news agencies reported yesterday.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said the government would award the contract to another company which has not been named.

METEC was the contractor for the electromechanical and hydraulic steel structure work on the project, however Ahmed said it was unable to complete the work.

“We have handed over a complicated water dam project to people who have not seen a dam in their life and if we continue in that direction, the project may never see the light of day,” he said.

The project was announced in 2011 and only 65 per cent of work has been completed. “It is a project that was supposed to be completed within five years, but seven or eight years later not a single turbine is operational,” Ahmed said.

READ:Ethiopian PM blames contractor for delay in dam

The project is expected to cost $4.8 billion and produce 6,000 megawatts of electricity.

Last month, the manager of the project Semegnew Bekele was found shot dead in his car. Investigations are ongoing.