An engineer in-charge of the construction of government’s flagship program, 1 Village 1 Dam, Bismark Azupogo has confirmed that not even a single dam has been completed and handed over in the Upper East Region.
Flagbearer for the then New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2016 general elections, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo now President,made a campaign promise to construct dams in all villages in the Northern part of the country for farming and household purposes.
The Upper East Region has been allocated with 150 dams for all communities in the 15 Municipal and District assemblies. But as the NPP government enters it’s last year of the 4 year mandate, the 1V1D engineer stated that not a single dam for the region has been completed.
According to him, out of the targeted 150 dams to be constructed, a little over 100 dams are under various stages of completion in the 15 districts of the region.
“For instance, 9 dams are at various stages of completion in Talensi district, 10 at the Bawku areas, the Builsa South district 6 dams are under various stages of completion, and 7 at the Bawku West district. All these dams are in different stages of completion in different areas”, Mr. Azupogo stated.
It is exactly a year since A1 Radio in a documentary titled ‘Thirsty Dams of the North’ which exposed the shoddy nature of works done on the construction of the dams was aired. The report revealed how some dams particularly; the Bolga-Soe dam and the Kajelo Dam could not withstand the pressure of water harvested from last year’s rains.
The Chief of Dachio, Naba Akaliga II at the time of the report angrily described the 1V1D in his community as similar to a football park. As a result, a section of the public felt there was no value for money in the shoddy nature of the dams which cost the tax payer a whopping Ghc 250, 000 per dam.
But speaking exclusively to A1 Radio, the engineer for the 1 Village 1 Dam policy said,a special attention has been given to some of the defected dams in the region even though they are yet to be completed.
Mr. Azupogo explained that one of the underlying factors that causing the delay in completing the dams is due to lack of finance.
“The contractors are not given money to work, they only move to the site when they mobilized themselves”, he revealed.
The engineer explained that unlike other dams, the nature of the 1 village 1 dam is in two broad phases, the general edge works and then with the slope protections, hence more attention needs to be given to these dams.
Source:A1radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Ghana
