Ethiopia is set to become a leading electricity producer in Africa in the next five years, after it announced plans to construction a new 2,000 megawatts hydropower dam.

The nation’s Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn told Parliament on Thursday that the project is set to start soon but did not give an exact time frame.

He however decried the poor rains that have had an adverse impact on the country’s hydropower projects. The drought, one of the worst ever witnessed in the East African nation of 96 million people, has also left over 10  million people facing starvation.

“Four hydropower plants generating a total of 675 megawatts were either producing as low as 10 percent or nothing at all,” Desalegn said.

According to Reuters, the new dam will add to other projects currently underway that are set to increase the nation’s production to 17,346 megawatts, from its current 2,200 megawatts.

Experts have said that the nation’s energy potential is huge. Its wind power potential is estimated to be the third largest on the continent. There are 45,000 megawatts of hydropower and 5,000 of geothermal energy that is largely unexploited in the Horn of Africa nation.

The project is set to increase tension with Egypt over the use of the River Nile water.  Grand Renaissance Dam that is already under construction at a cost of $4.1 billion has been the centre of a dispute with the North African country.

Egypt has said that the construction will greatly affect the flow of the river that is its main source of water. Grand Renaissance Dam will produce 6,000 megawatts of hydroelectricity upon its completion.

Another project, Gilgel Gibe 3 Dam in southern Ethiopia has also been at the centre of dispute from Kenya with right groups saying that it will drastically reduce water levels in Lake Turkana. The dam is set to produce 1,800 megawatts.