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埃塞俄比亚推动大型水利工程建设

With a newly-signed deal on sharing Nile River waters with Egypt, Ethiopia is moving ahead with the continuing construction of Africa's largest hydro-power dam and the filling of a reservoir.

在与埃及新近签署了尼罗河用水协议之后，埃塞俄比亚开始继续推进非洲最大水利发电大坝的建设与水库蓄水工作。

The Nile River is a source of life for several African countries and, for years, a source of tension between Ethiopia and Egypt. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance¹ Dam, begun four years ago, threatened to raise those tensions, even sparking talk of war.

尼罗河水是几个非洲国家的生命之源。多年以来，这也造成了埃塞俄比亚与埃及之间的纠纷。四年前埃塞俄比亚开始建设“复兴大坝”（The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam），加剧了这种紧张关系，双方甚至扬言要动用武力。

But Egypt, which along with Sudan long claimed near-exclusive rights to Nile waters, last week compromised in the face of reality, signing a regional pact² on Nile water use.

之前，埃及紧随苏丹之后，宣称拥有几乎全部的尼罗河用水权。上周这三国在现实面前达成了妥协，签署了尼罗河用水协议。

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi spoke³ to Ethiopia’s parliament last week on the need to share the Nile's waters equally.

埃及总统阿卜杜勒-法塔赫·塞西上周在与埃塞俄比亚议会进行对话时，强调了平等利用尼罗河水资源的必要性。

Egypt fears its water flow will decrease, especially with Ethiopia filling a reservoir with 74 billion cubic meters of water. This will take 5-6 years, said the dam's project manager, Simegnew Bekele.

埃塞俄比亚将把740亿立方米的河水蓄入水库，这引起了埃及方面的担忧。

“The dockwater is extended up to 246 kilometers from the dam centerline and it will cover about 1874 square kilometers,” he added.

他说，“从大坝的中线开始，水面将延伸多达246公里。这会覆盖约1874平方公里的区域。”

Not that Ethiopia ever let Egypt's concerns affect dam construction, said Ethiopia’s Water Minister Alemayehu Tegenu.

埃塞俄比亚水资源和能源部长阿莱马耶胡·特格努说，埃塞俄比亚不会让埃及的担忧影响大坝的建设。

“The dam construction will never stop," he said. "We will continue negotiating on hiring of consultants⁴ and will continue negotiation⁵ on the process of studies, so [all these] processes will not affect the dam construction. The dam construction will continue.”

“大坝的建设不会停止。我们会继续就聘请顾问和研究进度进行磋商。因此这一过程不会影响大坝的建设。建设会继续进行。”

The first power-generating trials will start after the rainy season. Eventually the dam should have a capacity of 6,000 megawatts. Although construction is less than half-done, Minister Alemayehu said the project will be complete in 2017.

首次发电试运行会在雨季结束后开始。最终大坝将具有六千兆瓦的发电能力。尽管大坝的建设进度尚未过半，但阿莱马耶胡说建设会在2017年完工。

“The four years in [the] past — it was mobilization and camp construction and erection of plants; this has taken a long time. Now all activities are towards dam construction currently. So we’re 100 percent focused and capitalized on dam construction. So it is not difficult to finish the dam within two years time.”

他说，“过去的四年，我们在进行动员工作、营地建设和植被种植，这已经花费了很长时间。现在所有的活动都围绕大坝建设而展开，我们可以全神贯注。因此在两年之内完成建设任务并不困难。”

The $5 billion-dam is being built without any foreign capital. The Ethiopian government is providing 90 percent of the money; the rest is coming from fundraising events across the country, such as bond selling, and concerts.

这项耗资五十亿美元的建设工程并没有借助外资。埃塞俄比亚政府提供了百分之九十的资金，而余下的则来自全国的筹资活动，包括债卷发售，音乐会募捐等。