Complex Project Management Issues in Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam

This article analyses the complex project management issues in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) project. It highlights the issues identified in the ICCPM Roundtable and suggests tools and strategies to manage and minimize the complexity of the project.

Running head: COMPLEX PROJECT MANAGEMENT ISSUES
COMPLEX PROJECT MANAGEMENT ISSUES
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Complex project management issues as highlighted by ICCPM Roundtable:
In this section the issues which have been identified in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance
Dam or the GERD project will be analysed in details with references to the issues which have been
identified for executing a complex project in the ICCPM Roundtable.
1. Unaccommodated or unaligned stakeholder view of success –
While stakeholders such as government of Sudan and Egypt has had different opinion about
the success of the project, the Ethiopian government claims that once the project is completed it will
provide a lot of benefits (Kahsay et al., 2015). The Ethiopian government specifies that the success
of the projects will be defined by the number of job opportunities will be defined by the amount of
economic benefits provided to the community through jobs and tourism, amount of electricity
produced due to construction of the project and thus transforming the rural areas and bringing
overall development both socially and economically (Wheeler et al., 2016). However as per
International river, a US based organization and one of the important external stakeholder in the
project thinks that the success of the project depends on the facts that how well international laws
has been followed, standard maintained in the project planning and resource allocation and also
how well disputes in the projects have been addressed as raised by the other two country, two other
important stakeholders in this projects ("Field Visit Report on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance
Dam", 2019). Variation in the stakeholder expectations and definition of projects success has
created complexity in the project.
2. Tension between product success and project success (product vs outcome) –
As per the Ethiopian government, while International Rivers are deliberately trying to
defame Ethiopia and its initiatives on its projects, it is based on false estimation and it is being
applied for fake propaganda against Ethiopia ("Field Visit Report on the Grand Ethiopian
Renaissance Dam", 2019). The Ethiopian government has also made it clear that GERD will play an
important role in the 2063 African Union agenda of "Regional Integration" as Ethiopia decides to

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share the benefits with other basin countries (Yihdego, Rieu-Clarke & Cascão, 2016). It is already
considering in providing the first power to Kenya, Sudan and Djibouti which will help in building
transmission lines which will provide the basis for encouraging people-to-people relations for
expanding trade.
3. Political and public relations pressure militating against doing the right thing –
According to the Ethiopian government, while Egypt for a long time retained its control on
the Nile River for transforming the Sahara desert into green, Ethiopia has long been retained from
taking advantage of it, even though they represent 85% of the water resource (Taye et al., 2016).
Hence, their initiative to construct the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is a right decision for
bringing development in the country which they deserves ("Why the Nile could see a 'water war'",
2019). However, false allegation against the country from the international organizations such as
International River, government of Sudan and Egypt is hence not justified and only meant to create
pressure to refrain them from doing things that are right for the country ("Field Visit Report on the
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam", 2019).
4. Lack of understanding or acknowledgement of non-technical risk –
While the International River has accused that local funding for the projects is not as well
effective, followed by “unethical means to raise funds” ("Field Visit Report on the Grand Ethiopian
Renaissance Dam", 2019). Even the choice of self-financing is a risky one too which has not been
acknowledged by the government of Ethiopia.
5. Use of competition as a weapon –
As per the claim by the Ethiopian government, both the Sudan and Egypt is involved in
completion with the nation as they don’t want the country to be developed and don’t want them to
represents themselves as an economically strong and developed country on the international scale

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(Digna et al., 2017). This completion is only violating the healthy environment for the project
execution, but also making the project deliberately complex.
6. Institutionalised procurement practices –
Although locally financed as accused by the International River organization, the Ethiopian
government awarded the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract worth $4.7
billion to the Salini Costruttori, a private Rome-based mega-project company (El-Nashar &
Elyamany, 2017). According to the government, this procurement will help in marinating close
relationship with the contractor and ensuring success for the project.
7. Few project managers are equipped as project delivery leaders –
As per the local and international claims, the way the GERD project is being executed, the
way resource and funds are being managed and allocated, it clearly defines that the project lacks
managers who are equipped as project delivery leaders.
8. Lack of opportunity for engagement between government and industry –
Even after so much accusation by government of Sudan and Egypt, a study by the Eastern
Nile Technical Regional Office of the Nile Basin Initiative has made it clear that the project will not
only enhance the government industry interactions, it will create a lot of opportunities through the
power interconnectedness, regional cooperation, trust and confidence building for strengthening the
relationship (Abdelhady et al., 2015). Regulated water flow for an extended period on the
downstream of the Nile River from the High Aswan Dam will benefit the tourism of the Egypt.
Hence according to the study there is a lot of opportunity for the government and industry
engagement.
9. Future capability (projects) are predicated on attaining rational estimates –
According to the experts of the Egyptian National Panel although Ethiopian government has
suggested various benefits of the project, it is not based on rational estimates (Nicol, 2017). Alaa al-

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Zawahiri, a member of the Egyptian National Panel of Experts, the construction of the dam will
reduce the 60% of the agricultural land in the country (Negm & Abdel-Fattah, 2018). A damage to
the dam will also destroy the Aswan Dam, thus bringing widespread damage to the Egypt.
10. Current tools and decision processes unsuitable for analysing uncertainty –
Various local and international environment specialist has been accusing Ethiopian
government for not having proper tools and decision process (Negash et al., 2015). However the
government has claimed that right after the construction has been started, the government has
consulted the International Panel of Experts (IPoE) in various occasions so that the process is
transparent and effective for enhancing decision process (Nigatu & Dinar, 2016).
The tools, techniques and strategies that can be used to manage and minimize the complexity
of the GERD based on the complexities:
 Distribution of the report based on expert judgement on issues such as environmental impact
due to the project.
 Maintaining transparency in the procurement and the contract procedure.
 Reviewing stakeholder expectations, issues raised by them with reference to the project
objectives, scopes and goals. This will help in better stakeholder management for reducing
the complexity of the project.

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