Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE’s) Hydrology Department will be one of the major contributors to the cooperation which has the following main activities:
1. Capacity Building in Hydrological Services
2. NVE Assistance in Management of Feasibility Studies of Mandaya and Beko-Abo Multipurpose Projects. The studies are to evaluate the environmental, social and economic feasibility of the projects. The financing of the cooperation is part of a appr. 300 million ETB development cooperation between Norway and Ethiopia.
3. Capacity Building in Project Management and Procurement
The agreement is the result of long planning, including a capacity building identification workshop held in Addis Ababa in November last year. At that time, the Ethiopian Minister of Finance and Economic Development, H.E Ato Ahmed Shide, and Jens Petter Kjemprud, Ambassador of Norway to Ethiopia signed an agreement on appr. 300 million ETB covering feasibility studies for Mandaya and Beko-Abo Multipurpose Project. The overall goal of the multipurpose projects is to develop reliable and environmentally sustainable power supply and improved living standards for the people of Ethiopia and the region.
The two studies were opened for international bidding, and on 4th of March this year, the Norwegian company Norplan/Norconsult signed a technical consultancy contract with the Ministry of Water Resources of Ethiopia to do a feasibility study. The Norwegian Embassy is also supporting theEastern Nile Technical Regional Office( ENTRO) with NOK 6 million (ca. ETB 14 million) between January 2010 and April 2012 for facilitating regional consultation and other regional activities, as well as The Eastern African power Pool (EAPP) to establish power trading arrangements in the Eastern Africa region.