Ex-State Minister Won African Power, Energy and Water Industry Award

Addis Ababa May 17/2019 Former State Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Wondimu Tekle, has won African Power, Energy and Water Industry awards of 2019.

Wondimu won the lifetime achievement award category at the annual African Power, Energy and Water Industry awards of 2019 that returned to Cape Town this week, honoring the leading utilities, projects and people in the energy and water industries on the continent.

The award recognized Wondimu’s seven years service as State Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy of Ethiopia and his contribution in the construction of various infrastructure projects, including the expansion of a rural electrification programme for more than 6,000 towns and villages in the region, it was learned.

His colossal role in tackling water shortages by increasing the water supply of Dire Dawa city reservoir dam from 240,000m³ to 400 000 m³ per day contributed to win the award.

Wondimu, who spoke about the achievement and his nomination, said he was “grateful for being chosen”.

According to the former minister, he was fortunate to have been involved in many interesting projects in his career, in both water and energy: “especially the 6,000MW hydropower Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), which is being built on the Blue Nile.

This project has already reached almost 60 percent so this will help Ethiopia as well as the neighboring countries through integration, he said.

Amongst his many achievements, the former state minister upgraded eight cities’ electric distribution systems including that of Addis Ababa.

ESI Africa included Wondimu in their 60 most influential figures in the power sector from East and West Africa. Now as a PhD candidate for Economics at the Peking University in China, he has been conducting research since 2017 around achieving Ethiopia’s economic growth and development.