[1] The dam was built by Gibson and Pauling (Foreign) Ltd, which was a partnership between the British civil engineering company Pauling & Co. and the civil engineer John Watson Gibson.

[2] In 2003 a hydroelectricity project with a 30-megawatt (40,000 hp) maximum capacity was completed on the dam.

This increased the structure's strategic value, so it is now continually guarded by the Sudanese Army.

[citation needed] In November 2023 the Jebel Aulia Bridge, part of the Jebel Aulia Dam complex, was destroyed amid heavy fighting in Jabal Awliya.

The SAF accused the RSF of causing the reservoir to flood horizontally by closing the dam.