The Lands Commission and the Site Advisory Committee working on the Pwalugu Multi-purpose Dam Project have finalized land acquisition issues with stakeholders in the Upper East and North East Regions for the project to commence.
Mr. Emmanuel Nartey, the Settlement Manager of the Volta River Authority (VRA), who updated the stakeholders on the progress of work, said community engagements and land mapping were completed with resettlement processes ongoing.
He said a total of 814 households comprising 4,228 people spread across 22 communities in the main reservoir, 11 households made of 52 people across three communities in the Weir area who were physically affected would be resettled.
He said 335 households with human population of 2,618 who were economically displaced would be provided with agriculture development support, marketing schemes and technology improvement facilities to sustain their livelihoods.
For social cohesion, the Resettlement Manager said 10 community centers and five Chief Palaces would be constructed at convenient locations including five churches, six mosques and football parks would also be provided in all the four resettlement towns which would further be connected to the national grid.
Mr. Nartey said the communities would also benefit from CHPS compounds with staff accommodation, while two health facilities at Wulugu and Samni would be upgraded and equipped to supplement health care delivery.
Four Kindergarten, Primary and three Junior High Schools would be built, boreholes and water points would also be provided with toilet facilities in each resettlement, and 80kilometre link feeder roads would be constructed within the communities.
The Upper East Regional Minister, Hon Stephen Yakubu, in his address, reiterated government’s commitment to the construction of the Multi-purpose Dam.
He said it took a “Visionary leader in the person of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to demonstrate the commitment to the people of the North that this laudable vision could be executed to the benefit of all Ghanaians.
“Apart from serving as a reservoir or receptacle to harvest water from the upland which has been the main source of our perennial floods from the Bagre Dam, it would also provide 25,000 hectares of irrigable land and Hydro- Solar hybrid system of 60 Megawatts Hydro Power and 50 Megawatts Solar Power,” he said.
Hon Yakubu said the project was a game-changer that would check the migration of the youth from the North to the south for greener pastures.
Mr. Daniel Onny, the Pwalugu Multi-Purpose Dam Project Manager, said the World Bank had given the assurance that it would soon release funds for the project to start.
UER-RCC
SOURCED: APEXNEWSGH