Tams Dam: 1060 MW hydropower dam in the Baro Akobo basin

Shimeles Mulugeta, business development and contract management executive officer at the Water Works Design and Supervision Enterprise (WWDSE), told The Reporter that the enterprise, together with Electro Consult, an Italian consultancy firm, have signed an agreement to undertake feasibility studies for the Tams hydropower dam. It is intended to be erected between the Bonga and Gambella areas, some 45 km east of the Gambella regional state, streaming to the Baro-Akobo river basin. Both firms are expected to finalize their studies within a year-and-a-half.

The Tams hydropower project is named after a UK-based company, which conducted master plan studies in 1996 at the Baro-Akobo basin. According to Shimeles, the project requires some USD 1.5 million for the feasibility studies. Both firms signed the consultancy agreement with the Ministry of Water and Energy a few weeks ago and agreed to undertake both pre-feasibility and feasibility studies for the proposed Tams dam.

 
WWDSE, on the other hand, will take care of studies and detailed designs for the Upper Gudar project, which will irrigate 6,282 hectares of land and generate 20 megawatts of small-scale hydropower, situated near the town of Gudar in the Oromia Regional State, 140 km west of the capital, Addis Ababa. WWDSE has a budget of 13.2 million birr and will complete the studies in no longer than 16 months, Shimeles said.

 
Another irrigation project, which will irrigate 5,100 hectares of land, will cost the ministry 10.2 million birr for the feasibility and design-related studies, to be finalized in the next 18 months. According to Shimeles, filed surveys have already been conducted as part of a pre-feasibility report. The study on the Tams Dam will commence next month, with the government expected to finance all the projects.