Recommendations for the future of Es-Sadd el-Ali
We cannot yet assess the advantages and disadvantages of the construction
of the Aswan High Dam in full, since many of them depend on long-term
factors that are not yet operative. For the same reason no economist is in a
position to carry out a balanced cost-benefit analysis valid for a longer period
of time. Moreover, abstract but invaluable factors like culture, people’s self-
determination and safety as well as their human rights can hardly be assessed
in terms of figures. No matter whether the benefits are ultimately found to
outweigh the disadvantages or vice versa, the most critical question remains
unanswered: what will be the fate of the Egyptian people once the southern
section of the Sadd el-Ali Lake is silted up? Some of the solutions that have
been suggested are discussed here:
• Smith (1986) recommends clearing away the deposits forming the delta
at the southern tip of the storage lake and using the fertile silt for land
reclamation elsewhere. It has to be remembered, however, that the delta
is located on Sudanese territory and that Egypt cannot act as it would like
here. That Egypt will in future have to observe the Sudan’s rights if it does
not want to run the risk of political consequences was already strongly
underlined by the Sudan’s former Prime Minister Al-Mahdi in his book
(2000) The Nile Waters. The Promise and the Threat. What Smith suggests may
be technically feasible but is not economically viable. Such measures were
not considered elsewhere,