The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has disclosed that a crunch meeting of top government officials will be held at the Jubilee House on October 1, 2018 to discuss possible funding sources for the construction of the proposed Pwalugu Multi-Purpose Dam at Pwalugu in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region.
In 2008, the Parliament of Ghana contracted a loan of $525 million from Brazil to construct the proposed multi-purpose dam at Pwalugu and the Juala Dam in the Northern Region. This followed the 2007 floods that devastated the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Region which led to a declaration of State of Emergency by former President JohnAgyekum Kufuor.
Although Ghana received the money in 2009, the government under the administration of late President John Evans Atta Mills abandoned the two projects and diverted the money for the construction of the Eastern corridor road.
If it had been constructed, the Pwalugu Multi-Purpose Dam would have had a capacity to irrigate about 20,000 hectors of land by gravity only, and 100,000 of hectors of land when pumped for all year round farming. Strategically sited on the White Volta basin, the dam was also to be the solution to annual flooding disasters as a result of the opening of Bagre Dam in Burkina Faso as it would have contained spilled water.
Speaking at Tongo in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region last Saturday during his visit to commensurate with victims and bereaved families of the recent floods, Dr. Bawumia said a bilateral discussion between Ghana and Burkina Faso had already taken place in Accra and President Akufo-Addo was commited to ensuring that the dam was constructed.
As a result, the he disclosed that there would a meeting of top government officials at the Jubilee House on October, 2018 for discussions on the proposed project to continue.
“President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo just on Thursday’s cabinet [meeting] raised the issue of the Pwalugu Dam again. And he tasked us to make sure we bring the issue to the front burner. On October 1, a meeting is being held at the Jubilee House specifically on the Pwalugu Dam Project and how we can get it forward. We are very determined to make sure that this project comes to light and we believe we can make a major impact if we do this project. So we are going to push it and I will be your chief driver to push it through and Insah Allah.” Vice President Bawumia assured.
Before arriving at Tongo, the Vice President flood victims and bereaved families at Siniesi in the Builsa North District, Kologo in the Kassena Nankana East District and Navrongo in the Kassena Nankana where assorted relief items were presented to flood victims. He also president cash amounts to bereaved families of those who died.
The Minister for Interior, Mr. Ambrose Derry, Minister for Defence, Mr. Dominic Nitiwul, the Minister for Aviation, Dr. Kofi Adda and the Director General of NADMO, Mr. Eric Nana Agyeman- Prempeh were the top government appointees who accompanied the Vice President.
Source:A1Radioonline.com|101.1FM|Ghana
