Project Complexity Analysis of Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)

PPMP20014
4th Discussion Forum
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Date: 12th January 2019

PPMP20014 (4th Discussion Forum): GERD Page 2 of 7
Table of Contents
Introduction to the Case Study.............................................................................3
Discussion on Project Complexity with radar diagram...........................3
Conclusion from the discussion............................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................ 6

PPMP20014 (4th Discussion Forum): GERD Page 3 of 7
Introduction to the Case Study
The case study project is the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam which is
constructed in Ethiopia nearer to the border of Sudan that will be used to define the level of
complexity with the help of a radar diagram. The dam is constructed on the Blue Nile river
which is flowing from Ethiopia and going to Egypt through Sudan before getting mixed with
the sea water (Taye, Tadesse, Senay, & Block, 2016). Ethiopia is at the upstream side, and
Egypt is at the downstream side. A large dam of around 110 metre height is built at the
downstream side of Egypt which helps in developing agriculture and hydropower electric
current of 2100 megawatt (MW) of power (Whittington, 2016). Because of the construction
of GERD, various kinds of complexity level will get increased related to the international
water body of the Blue Nile river that can increase the level of complexity of the project.
Discussion on Project Complexity with radar
diagram
Project can have various categories of complexity such as the structural complexity
that can get increased due to the increase in the level of interconnections and
interdependencies between various stakeholders like it is present in the case study project
(Remington & Pollack, 2011). For the construction of the GERD, it is not only the execution
contractor and the people of Ethiopia are involved, whereas, the people of Egypt and the
people of Sudan are also equally involved because by the construction of this Dam, it will
heavily impact these three countries and their water sharing proportions. The Other category
of complexity that is the directional complexity is also present in this project because of the
disagreement of constructing the dam in Ethiopia by different African countries has raised the
changes in the project objective very frequently. Moreover, the technical dimension of
complexity is also present because the dam is having a height of 145 metres and is going to
be built in an area where the chances of soil sedimentation is very high and so the site is not
technically feasible and there are various other unknown factors regarding the efficiency
which will add to the level of complexity (International Rivers, 2017). The temporal level of
complexity is also present due to the uncertainty of water sharing proportions present
between various African countries those are dependent on the water source from the Blue
Nile river.
It is found in the article that there are 5 categories of complexity that should be
analysed to find the level of complexity present in a project. The five factors are the financial