I want to say and start with an obvious thing that we all here give for granted now, but it wasn't so obvious before. The great Ethiopian Renaissance dam. It is finally a fact after 15 years. The reservoir is fully filled and the power stations are already generating energy that will be dispatched through the grid throughout all the country. And everything works. This is my record. This is fantastic. A dream came true for me and for the nation. How proud can I be today. My heart is singing and I'm sure together with the heart of all Ethiopians in this around 35 million people will be finally brought to the lines and the total energy available in the country will be three times what was before.
The equivalent power of free nuclear plant together is generated here. Ethiopia can sell energy to neighboring country reinforcing relationship and fostering development of the entire region in peace. I want to thank all the workers, the technicians, the engineers that with their endeavor and continuous commitment have made this accomplishment possible. Safety first. This one was one of the safest projects in the world. Nonetheless, all great achievement comes with a cost and notwithstanding all effort deployed, there is a cost which we regret the most and the most unfortunately couldn't avoid. This job was an enormous effort of workmanship and labor. More than 260 million working hours in this job and more than 10,000 people were employed at peak times to build this dam and the related project and 250,000 hours were spent on training or for safety. But all the same we still had victims in this 15 years. 33 workers lost their life in road accident and other issues. I bend my head with respect and say I pray for the people that gave their life for this achievement and for their families. Their memories will not be lost.
Capacity building was achieved in this project. 25,000 young technicians, skilled workers and engineers have been training on the job. This is a very important result. A very scarce resource was obtained as a side result. They can give an essential contribution for the future of this country.
I started with an obvious consideration, but it was not obvious at all when we started this journey. I was working with at the time Prime Minister Meles Zenawi visiting the Belles project which was under construction. We were near the little bay and he told me, 'I have a dream for this country. Energy independence and abundance. Can you design a project on the bay?' 'I want a mega project at least 6,000 megawatt,' he stated. 'Do it quickly.' A year after he passed away, then another prime minister came was the honorable Mariam Desaren. He had to make difficult and tough choice, successful choice as we see today. Then another PM Abiy Ahmed Ali took the situation in his hands facing all the difficulties on earth and here we are.
Character of Ethiopians is tempered by difficulties and challenges. Think at the Ethiopian runners who trained themselves at 2,000 meters over the sea level to win. No one wanted this country to build this project. No one wanted to finance it. Many political issues, too many problems and no easy solutions. But the Ethiopians are not afraid of difficulties. They are resilient and when they face resistance or enemies they double the effort and they take the best out of them. They do not bend or step back and renounce what they believe and want. Ethiopia did this project against all the difficulties against all the opponents against all the challenges with its own resources. The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia financed it and citizens did their part purchasing a bond issued expressly. It was my dam was the mantra they said and this is it. It is their dam.
They were opponent and fierce. Now that the dam reservoir is completely filled, we have demonstrated with facts what was before fruit of estimate and calculation not harm or damage to the water flow in the downstream countries. The Aswan dam reservoir is at its maximum level contemporaneously as the GERD reservoir is full. I want to pay a little tribute to my father which gave all his life and his love to this country and to Petrangeli which is the father of many of the projects that we did in this country. I arrived in Ethiopia in the 60s. Most of the people here were not born at the time and certainly none of the ladies. We were doing the Legadadi dam and my father was bringing me with him to visit the job site. A young engineer which is now 91 years old is here was George Pedrangeli, author of many of the designs including this one.
I brought my son Gregorio here. Prao Georgio. I brought my son Gregorio here to continue the tradition. My father, my grandfather before me and now my son. We started Legadadi and now we are here with you, Mr. Prime Minister, and we deliver this project. There was a time in which I came here and Addis Ababa was dark. There was no light. Power shed every day and there was no light for the people. Now it was a nation into the darkness. Now there is light everywhere. Now Ethiopia can sell energy to the neighboring country. You imagine that?
I read about the gold of Ethiopia. But the gold of Ethiopia is not the metal the precious thing but it's the water that we have above the sea level on the highlands and it is the white oil, it is clean and sustainable. No one else has this luck. We built as built and originated and designed a large part of the projects of the country. More than 110,000 megawatt installed for the future of the country. There is another name for energy power. Power and there is a meaning behind this. Power to grow, power to connect, to develop, to industrialize, to teach, to heal, to build peaceful and fruitful relationship. Power for the future of the people.
Michelangelo, which was a Renaissance Italian sculptor, said once that the sculpture is already inside the marble block. The role of the sculptor is only to take off the things which are useless and you see the sculpture inside it. We have the same for the hydroelectric plant for the future. Water is where we need. The only things we have to do is to take out the useless things. Dig some holes, make some tunnels, build some other dams. There will be other projects to imagine and to build. The future is only started today. Thank you.
