By Addis Getachew

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia

The general manager of Ethiopia's $4.8 billion hydro-electric project on the Nile had committed suicide, the country’s police said on Thursday.

“As to who killed him, we have come to a conclusion that all things investigated point to a suicide,” Police Commissioner Zeinu Jemal said at a news conference.

On June 26, Engineer Simegnew Bekele was found dead in his car at Meskel Square, a busy street in downtown Addis Ababa.

Jemal said efforts are underway to ascertain the reasons behind the suicide.

“Work pressure and delays caused by one of the contractors of the project Metals and Engineering Corporation [a local military-affiliated corporation responsible for supply of electro mechanical equipment] may have led to the engineer committing suicide,” he added.

Jemal said Bekele had witnessed hundreds of millions of dollars being squandered by officials at METEC.

In a news conference in August, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed blamed METEC for the delay of the flagship project, GERD, that was launched in 2011 and was supposed to take five years to complete.

“Seven years on, not a single turbine has been installed,” he had said.