The Meroë Dam Project

The Merowe Dam (also known as the Hamdab Hydro Project) opened in 2009 with great publicity: it was the largest contemporary hydropower project in Africa. 9km in length and soaring to 67m high, the dam holds back a reservoir extending over 170km upstream. 10 vast MW Francis turbines are expected to generate an annual yield of 5.5 terawatt hours (TWh), necessitating the upgrading of the national grid to cope with the extra supply. 

            The plan for a dam at the Fourth Cataract is not a new one. It was proposed several times in the early 20^th century, and revived again in 1979. Feasibility studies took place but lack of investor interest stalled proceedings until 2002. Construction began in 2004 with the China International Water and Electronics Corporation constructing the dam, the German firm Lahmeyer International managing the project and providing civil engineers, and Alstom (a French company) supplying the generators and turbines. The project cost $1.2 billion, with the majority of funding coming from the Middle East and the China Import Export Bank.

            Whilst Sudan’s need for a reliable electricity supply is not debated, the environmental, human and archaeological damage caused by the dam and, more especially, the reservoir it has created have been of ongoing concern. The reservoir has increased the surface area of the Nile by an estimated 700km², increasing water loss due to evaporation by as much as 1.5 billion m³.  Although an official plan was in place to re-house 60,000 people who would be affected by the flooding, the UN expressed concern in 2007 that many displaced people had received neither information nor assistance from the government as the reservoir’s water level rose. Those who were forcibly resettled argued that the land they were given was of inferior quality and that compensation for assets (notably homes and date palms) was inadequate. The compensation scheme only covered the settled population, and so nomads have been excluded from help entirely. 

            As with the Aswan Dam to the north, the Merowe Dam has also heralded an archaeological disaster. A significant area between the Fourth and Fifth Cataracts was submerged, drowning beneath the waters archaeological sites dating back to the Stone Age. The Merowe Dam Archaeological Salvage Project (MDASP) was established in 2006 in a bid to salvage some of the most important sites, but unlike with Lake Nasser they lacked the time, money and publicity necessary to have a significant impact. A number of key historical sites have now been lost.