Joint Multipurpose Project(JMP)

The Joint Multipurpose Program (JMP) Phase-1 Identification Study constitutes the draft Strategic Social and Environmental Assessment (SSEA) Study organized into two Volumes (Vol 1- Main Report; and Vol 2 - Baseline). The overall purpose of the SSEA is to provide an inclusive and participatory assessment of cooperative water resources development in the Abbay/Blue Nile and Main Nile. The outcome is an assessment of the environmental and social issues associated with various development options to allow for informed and transparent decision-making in identification and selection of investments for water resources development. The SSEA compares water resources development alternatives considering a range of investments from a no-investment level up to a full cooperative development of the water resources of the Abbay in Ethiopia, looking at investment in infrastructure for hydropower generation and multipurpose uses like flood control, irrigation and drought alleviation. It broadly examines connections and impacts of potential development scenarios on the physical, biological, socio-economic, and cultural resources of the region and determines thresholds and tipping points where the impacts, positive or negative, start to be felt basin-wide.

This document summarizes the activities, progress and achievements under the EN JMP Launch Phase. Its purpose is to serve as a milestone report to the Eastern Nile Council of Ministers (ENCOM) including recommendations concerning the first JMP set of investments and the next steps beyond the JMP Launch Phase and into the Identification Phase which will analyze alternative projects in sufficient degree to allow sound choices to be made.

This document is an independent report of the JMP scoping study team to the Eastern Nile Council of Ministers (ENCOM) commissioned by the World Bank. The technical analysis presented in the report attempted: to explore the Eastern Nile as a river system shared by three countries; and to identify both the physical potential of the river system to yield opportunities for cooperative development and the risks of cooperation and non-cooperation. For the study, a computer simulation model of the river basin (modified DST/Decision Support Tool) was deployed that incorporates information about the countries’ water resources infrastructure, current water uses, and existing development plans. Activities involved in analyzing the most promising EN sub-basin for a first set of investments along the lines of those of the broad JMP concept: the Abay-Blue Nile sub-basin in Ethiopia offered the best opportunity for such investments (provides multi-purpose benefits; spurs benefits to all riparian states; and causes no regrets). Subsequent analytical work focused on alternative scenarios for development in the Abay-Blue Nile sub-basin.