By Samuel Ayammah
The Volta River Authority, VRA and the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA say resettling of communities to be affected by the construction of the Pwalugu Multi-Purpose Power Dam project in the North East and Upper East Regions, will be done in conformity with the cultural norms and traditions of the people.
This is to ensure an overwhelming acceptance of the project by the beneficiary Communities and alleviate possible resettlement-related challenges.
This came to light at a public hearing on the construction of the Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam in Pwalugu in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region.
When the EPA and partners organised the public hearing, it had in attendance representatives of the VRA, Water Resources Commission, Energy Commission, Minerals Commission, Volta Basin Authority, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Traditional rulers and the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority to discuss the various implementation phases of the project.
Sited in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region, the project components involve; a dam with an elevation of 165meters near the Pwalugu Bridge on the White Volta River and with a maximum reservoir area of 350 km2, a powerhouse consisting of two turbines with 60MW of installed capacity and 16.5 MW of firm continuous capacity; an Irrigation Scheme consisting of a 12meters high for 20,000 hectares of land, and a 15km overhead line to export power to an existing transmission line.
The project will be located between the Upper East region districts of Bawku West, Garu, Tempane, Binduri and Talensi and the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo, West Mamprusi and East Mamprusi Municipalities of the North East region.
The Director of Environmental Assessment and Management at the EPA, Kwabena Badu-Yeboah, said the objective of the public hearing was to address concerns raised by the beneficiary communities.
The Resettlement Manager of the Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam, Nene Emmanuel Martey, spoke to GBC News about the resettlement package.
Nene Martey said those engaged in economic activities will be supported with one-year net-profit.
The multi-purpose nature of the dam would also deal with perennial flooding in the Northern, North East and Savannah regions, which destroys lives and property during the rainy seasons.
