GERD proposal deadline extended to end of January

The deadline for two consultancy firms to submit a unified proposal to conduct a study on the impact of the controversial Renaissance Dam has been extended to the end of January, Egypt’s Irrigation Minister Hossam Moghazy said on Friday.A previous deadline for the two French firms, BRL and Artelia, to present their offers ended Friday.

The Tripartite National Committee (TNC,) which includes Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, will contract U.K.-based law firm Corbett to sign the contract with the consultancy companies.

BRL and Artelia are tasked with studying the impact of the Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the two downstream state; Sudan and Egypt.

In intensive negotiations held in Khartoum late in December between the irrigation and foreign ministers of the three states, Artelia was chosen to carry out the technical study instead of Deltares, a Dutch consultancy firm that had withdrawn from the project over concerns that the study would be transparent.