The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is perhaps the most cherished infrastructure project for Ethiopians, and it is expected to repay their devotion with lasting benefits.
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After 14 long years of eager anticipation, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam(GERD) is officially inaugurated. The public has an exceptional sense of ownership of the dam as it is exclusively funded by domestic sources. As of 2025, over 23.6 billion birr has been channeled into construction, collected directly from the local and diaspora community. About 84.4 billion birr worth of human labor and later-phase activities have been expended, making it quite dear to the Ethiopian people. It’s only natural for them to ask the fruition of their work.
Ethiopians have just built Africa's most colossal dam with a reservoir spanning across 1800 km2 surface area and rising up 145m, holding 74 billion cubic meters of water. It is set to produce 5,000 to 6,000 MW per year, and so we ask, how is this going to make life better? Moving on from it being an emblem of national victory, shareholders and taxpayers have justifiable questions about its transformational effect. How many more rural households are going to be lit? Is a power outage going to be a memory of recent times? What will the 570 billion birr investment return to citizens?
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The national access to electricity is stunted at 54%; projections say that it will rise by 24% after GERD commences operation, benefiting over 29 million people. This is pulling over 5 million rural households out of darkness. The reverberation will be life-changing in the economic opportunities it will drive. It won’t just be illuminating homes; it will accelerate industrialization, creating multiple jobs and huge markets for farmers. However, the promised 78% electricity reach seen against the global 92% average will still leave a large number of rural area dwellers with zero gains.
Ethiopia, for a long time, had the world’s cheapest electricity tariffs, but increased supply won’t mean even lower tariffs. The Ethiopian Electric Utility(EEU) has been increasing rates since September 2024, which, around mid-2025, reached up to 8 fold. The energy policy of the country seems to be shifting, despite the completion of the power house, dimming the likelihood of lower tariffs.
As for miners, agro-processors, and manufacturers, this is going to be irresistible. Reliable and surplus power is the engine of industrial expansion. Existing plants can now operate at their full capacity, energy-intensive projects have this vital resource at their disposal, and industries will no longer suffer the costs of irregularities and power outages. Farmers will benefit from enabled agro-processors who will now pay more for the agricultural produce they buy. As for the mineral refinery sector, local communities, along with people throughout the supply chain, will benefit from it. Altogether, it has the potential to propel exports and replace imports with local production, a sought-after economic condition for a country.
Electricity doesn’t just advance industrialization and exports; it’s itself a high-value export. In the fiscal year completed, Ethiopia made $118.1 million from transboundary electricity sales, generating high foreign currency earnings. Its effects further into harboring regional economic integrations, which will serve people across the countries involved. Besides, it grants Ethiopia diplomatic edges in negotiating multiple areas.
The overall contribution of the GERD to GDP is estimated to be a stunning 1.5%. Employment will soar by 1.5% and household income will rise by 14%. This is going to be revolutionary, enabling innovation, technology, small and medium enterprises, and many more sectors through enhanced spending and consumption. The rest is subjective; contributors will have a say if it was worth it.
