By Mohamed Taha Tawakel
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
ADDIS ABABA – A Swiss water company plans to explore the possibilities of developing and transferring groundwater to Djibouti from Eastern Ethiopia.
"The Swiss company and Kuwaiti diplomats have contacted us and they will be visiting Djibouti and hold further discussions," Djiboutian Ambassador to Ethiopia Mohamed Idriss Farah told Anadolu Agency.
A delegation from the Mai Resources International and the Kuwait embassy met with Ethiopian President Mulatu Teshome and Water Minister Alemayehu Tegenu to discuss the project.
"This has nothing to do with the Nile River waters and the proposed project area is in Eastern Ethiopia, 1165km far from the Nile," the Kuwait embassy said in a statement.
The proposed project is planned to be carried out in Adi Ggala town of Ethiopia’s Somali Regional State, according to the Djibouti ambassador.
In 2013, Ethiopia and Djibouti agreed to develop the underground water to be exported to Djibouti.
A Chinese Company is now developing the underground water to be used for drinking.
Ethiopian Minister of Finance and Economic Development Sufian Ahmed and his Djiboutian counterpart Ilyas Moussa Dawaleh had signed an agreement to facilitate cooperation on water supply between the two countries.
According to the agreement, Djibouti will install a 70km long water pipeline from the proposed project area, the Ethiopian town of Adi Ggala to the Guelileh border crossing all the way to Djibouti City.