HISTORIC: Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed today opened the Megech Irrigation Dam near Gondar after nearly two decades of delays and stalled work.
The dam holds 185 million cubic meters of water and is expected to irrigate more than 17,000 hectares of farmland, giving tens of thousands of farmers a reliable water supply so they can grow crops more than once a year instead of depending only on rain. It will also send clean drinking water to Gondar and nearby towns.
The new reservoir is meant to support fisheries, some urban farming, and tourism, which officials say should create jobs for young people in the area. Abiy said the project had been stuck for years because of design problems and weak management, but the government pushed it through under the Medemer approach. Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama joined the ceremony and helped unveil the plaque.
Local communities had grown frustrated after repeated setbacks on the project, which sits on the Megech River near Lake Tana. Officials are presenting the inauguration as part of wider efforts to expand irrigation and improve food security in the Amhara region.