August 27, 2018 - The Ethiopian government has terminated the Ethiopian military-affiliated Metals and Engineering Corporation (METEC) from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) project due to numerous delays in completing the project.
During the first press conference he held since he was elected Prime Minister, Dr. Abiy Ahmed had complained about the delay METEC has caused on the project, leading Salini Impregilo, the main contractor for the project, to demand extra compensation for the delays.
METEC was the contractor for the electromechanical and hydraulic steel structure divisions of the project. The Prime Minister said Salini Impregilo completed its end of the project on time, METEC did not.
During the weekend, Dr. Abiy said the government had cancelled the contract of METEC and will award it to another company.
The 6,000-megawatt dam project is said to be 60 percent complete, but way behind initial project estimates. "It is a project that was supposed to be completed within five years, but seven or eight years later not a single turbine is operational," Abiy said during a news conference in Addis Ababa on Saturday.
According to VOA report, an official at METEC, who did not wish to be named, said the company first heard of the cancellation on Saturday. "Even now our workers are on the site," the official said.