Kassala MPs to hear Electricity Minister on dam problems

Members of Parliament requested to hear the Minister of Electricity and Water Resources, Motaz Musa, on an urgent matter regarding the people affected by the Atbara and Setit dams.

MP for the East Caucus, Tahir Osham, told the press that residents have complained about the collapse of approximately 1,500 houses, which they say is the result of the construction work at Wed El Hileo.

Residents in the area, a district in Kassala, have demanded the administration of the dams to quickly move them to the villages of Atbara and Setit dams, because the lake water is rapidly coming near their houses.

Osham accused the Ministry of Electricity of ignoring the repeated appeals of the affected people, describing their situation as “tragic”: “A catastrophe might occur.”

In February 2015, the largest relocation operation in Sudan caused by the construction of dams commenced. By mid-March last year, tens of thousands of people living near the site of the Atbara and Setit (or Seteet) Dam Complex in Kassala state were moved.

While residents complained about the flooding of their lands without clear communication or compensation towards them, the dam project is also supposed to create some ten million acres of new farmland in Kassala and neighbouring El Gedaref state, at a cost $840 million, according to the dams’ chief engineer.