The Tekezze-Atbara research project: Inception workshop at the Upper Atbara Dams Complex, 22-23 May 2017

 

The inception workshop on the transboundary water management between Sudan and Ethiopia in the Basin of Tekezze-Atbara, was organized by the Hydraulics Research Center of the Ministry of Water Resources (HRC – Sudan) in 22-23 May 2017 in collaboration with the Ethiopian Institute of Water Resources – Addis Ababa University (EIWR – AAU), and the IHE Delft Institute in the Netherlands.

The workshop is concerned with the research of the Tekezze-Atbara sub-basin, which is controlled by a system of reservoirs that are; the Tekezze 5 Dam  in Ethiopia and Upper Atbara dam Complex and Khashm Elgirba dam in Sudan, The current situation is there is no coordination or exchange of data between these dams and this may lead to minimize the desired benefits from the operation of these reservoirs and hence this research comes to support and improve the water management  in the basin through strengthening the regional cooperation to operate the system of reservoirs in the basin for the optimal use of the available water resources in these dams.  The research is carried out jointly by researchers from the HRC -Sudan and the EIWR – AAU and technical support from IHE Delft. This project is funded by the DUPC2 program of IHE Delft, which is financed by the Dutch government. The final research findings will be submitted to the decision makers in the two countries to make the decision for better coordination in the operation between the Ethiopian and Sudanese dams.

The workshop was attended by the team members from Sudan, Ethiopia and the Netherlands and also with participation of different stakeholders such as: Ministry of Water Resources, Irrigation and Electricity in Sudan, Dams Implementation Unit (DIU), The Upper Atbara, Dam Complex, Khashm Elgirba Dam and New Halfa Agricultural Scheme representatives as they represent the targeted group in the research, and also with participation of the Dutch Embassy in Sudan representatives. The program has been covered by the Media.

Number of presentations were presented during the first day of the workshop discussing the idea of the research, the study area and the river basin simulation models, in addition to that; other two relevant studies in the basin conducted by MSc and PhD students were presented. The Upper Atbara Dam Complex Site was visited at the end of the day.

The project meeting attended by the team members was held on the second day to discuss the research outlines, plan, approach and the suitable models can be used, communication and the budget of the research project.

Field Visit

Media Coverage

Sudan TV reports