Koysha Dam in Ethiopia: The country’s second largest after the GERD

27 October 2025, 7:35 AM

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سد كويشا - Koysha Dam — emiliano tomei, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Ethiopia has begun constructing a new dam named Koysha Dam on the Omo River, making it the country’s second largest dam after the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), according to water resources experts.

Reports indicate that construction commenced a few weeks after the official inauguration of the GERD in September 2024, with completion reported at around 70%. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed stated that the project is expected to become one of Africa’s largest dams upon completion.

Ahmed — Bair175, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Experts clarified that the Koysha Dam does not affect Egypt’s share of Nile waters, as the Omo River is not a Nile tributary but flows into Lake Turkana in Kenya.

Similarly, Dr. Mohamed Nasr Allam, former Egyptian Minister of Irrigation, noted that the Omo River lies outside the basin feeding Egypt and Sudan. Dr. Nader Nour El-Din explained that Ethiopia has nine river basins, only three of which belong to the Nile Basin: the Blue Nile, where the GERD is located; the Atbara River, on one of whose tributaries the Takizie Dam is built; and the Sobat River, where Ethiopia plans to construct two dams on its tributaries in the future.

Dam — Prime Minister Office Ethiopia, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Experts confirmed that the remaining rivers in Ethiopia, including the Omo River, are independent and do not flow into the Nile, comprising either internal rivers or rivers shared with neighboring countries such as Somalia or flowing into lakes outside the basin.

While the Koysha Dam is seen as a project for electricity generation within Ethiopia, experts point out that the real water challenge for Egypt and Sudan remains linked to the GERD and potential projects on the three rivers belonging to the Nile Basin, amid the absence of a legally binding agreement on water management between the riparian countries and Addis Ababa.