Photo retrieved from: www.zawya.com
“Sudan is aggressively seeking to tap its abundant Nile waters with new dam projects as the oil-rich south’s independence looms, but experts warn of the social and environmental costs, and the bearing on the Nile water sharing dispute.
Khartoum sits on the confluence of the Blue and White Niles.
The cash-strapped government has good reasons for wanting to exploit its “blue gold,” a valuable resource that will help to offset the imminent loss of revenues from southern oil — some 36 percent of its income — when south Sudan proclaims independence on July 9.
“Sudan is clearly gearing up in terms of agriculture, because of the oil gap that comes with the separation of the south. To the extent that it can do more in the way of dams, that is its economic security,” said a Sudan-based environmentalist, requesting anonymity.
Last week, during a ministerial visit, the engineer responsible for heightening the vast Roseires dam, on the Blue Nile, said the $400 million project, which is due for completion in June 2012, would create three million feddans (1.3 million hectares) of farmland.”
Read more: Zawya
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