The Ethiopian government has just launched the construction of the Ajima-Chacha irrigation dam in the Amhara region in the north of the country. The $126.9 million project has been awarded to the Chinese Civil Engineering Corporation (CCEC) in partnership with Amhara Water Works Construction Enterprise.
The Ethiopian Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Seleshi Bekele, recently visited the Amhara region to lay the foundation stone for the construction of the Ajima-Chacha Irrigation Dam on the Jimma River. The work has been entrusted to the Chinese Civil Engineering Corporation (CCEC). The Beijing-based company is implementing the project with Amhara Water Works Construction Enterprise.
Over the next three years, the two companies will commission a dam 45.5 m high and 371 m long. The facility will be capable of holding 55 million m3 of water, which will be used to develop at least 7,000 hectares of plantations. Irrigation of this arid land and agricultural development should benefit at least 28,000 families who will grow fruits such as apples, vegetables, wheat and barley in the Amhara region. As part of its contract, CCEC will also lay 44 km of main pipelines and 20 km of secondary pipelines.
The construction of the Ajima-Chacha dam will require an investment of 5 billion Ethiopian Birrs, i.e. 126.9 million dollars. It is part of the Ajima-Chacha Irrigation Development Project, which is being launched just a few months after the start of construction of the Kaza Irrigation Dam in the Tigray region, bordering Eritrea and Sudan.
This water reservoir will be 57 m high and 2.54 km long. To carry out this other agricultural development project, the Ethiopian government has chosen Ethiopian Construction Works Corporation, Sur Construction and Afar Water Works Construction Enterprise. The Kaza Irrigation Project will require an investment of 4.7 billion Ethiopian Birrs, or US$ 139.4 million.
Jean Marie Takouleu
