ADDIS ABABA, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia plans to commission the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) hydroelectric project, which is under construction, later this year, an Ethiopian official said on Monday.

Speaking to state-run media outlet Ethiopian Press Agency, Kifle Horo, the GERD project manager, said the construction of the mega hydroelectric project is set to be completed within a seven-month period.

"The dam's civil construction work is currently 99 percent complete while the electromechanical work is around 78 percent complete," Horo said.

As part of its development goals, Ethiopia is currently undertaking various hydroelectric power projects, including the GERD, the construction of which began in April 2011.

The East African nation had initially planned to generate around 6,500 megawatts of electricity from the dam. The power generating capacity was later reduced to 5,150 megawatts. The dam is being built on the Blue Nile River in northwestern Ethiopia's Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State with a designed total water holding capacity of 74 billion cubic meters. Enditem

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