By Xu Jianmei
MEROWE, Sudan, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- Have you ever been to Merowe, Sudan, where Africa's largest hydropower project is being built on the Nile?
A multinational venture, with China as its leading constructor, the eye-catching Merowe Dam has not only brought hope of prosperity to the local people, but also ever closer ties between the friendly nations.
The road to the dam seems extremely long, at least for a foreign journalist coming from thousands of miles away.
It was 2:00 am local time when we landed at Sudan's capital Khartoum in a recent trip. Four land rovers were already there waiting for us. We were soon on our way along the edge of the Sahara desert.
It was too cold to fall asleep during the six-hour-plus trip, but it was actually a blessing in disguise -- how breathtaking it was to watch an African night gradually turning into a living day!
The sky was endless, the desert too. They united on the horizon in a perfect round shape without a crack. All of a sudden, the sun, like a huge red lonely ball, rose up, giving the whole world light and heat.
Then we saw the grand contour of the Merowe Dam stretching nearly 10 km across the fourth cataract of the beautiful Nile.
Set to be completed by 2008/09, the project finally would have the capacity to produce 1,250 megawatts of power, twice the current amount of electricity generated in Sudan.
The 65-meter-high dam and the transmission lines are being built mainly by Chinese companies. Western companies are also involved in the project: Lahmeyer International of Germany manages the project design and consultation; Alstom of France is supplying electro-mechanical equipment; and ABB of Switzerland is building transmission substations.
About 300 meters away, three young fishermen squatted on the rocks of the riverbank, sun bathing. They had just netted a large perch from the Nile, the longest river in the world.
"The dam will bring us benefit. Now we can net more fish and finally, we will have electricity for the first time in our life," said one of the fishermen in Arabic. His name was Ibrahim.
"We have been dreaming of it for almost five decades. Now the dream is coming true," said Khalid Mohiel Din Ali, a local engineer who has joined China's CCMD to work on the project since January 2004.
CCMD is the main player in charge of construction of the dam. Almost half of its 4,500 or so employees at Merowe are locals.
Khalid described the project as a locomotive for the development of remote northern Sudan, which will in turn drive other construction works like airports, bridges and hospitals. The local farming and fishing industries will also get a boost.
"Life is going to be much easier obviously. I expect my future life to be bright," he added, beaming. Khalid is the main supporter of an eight-member family in a town 40 miles (about 64 kilometers) away from the dam.
Thomas Richter, the chief concrete engineer with Lahmeyer International of Germany told Xinhua that the hydropower project will be a massive help in the improvement of the environment along the Nile and in Sudan's desert area.
The biggest African country suffers considerable soil and water losses caused by the annual flooding of the Nile. However, once the dam project is concluded, it will not happen again, said Richter.
The project also includes an irrigation network, which is expected to turn 400 sq. km of barren desert into a green oasis offer tile farm lands.
"Our battle against poverty starts from here," said Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir during his visit to Merowe not long ago. "The Merowe Dam represents the end of poverty because it constitutes the real start of development in the country."
The Merowe Dam is a mirror that reflects the friendship between the Chinese and Sudanese people and their win-win cooperation, said Yang Zhong, deputy managing director of the CCMD joint venture in Merowe.
"I feel very proud and happy that we Chinese can build this multi-purpose dam for the Sudanese people," he told Xinhua at the construction site.
