A1 Radio can confirm that work on the Vea Irrigation Dam rehabilitation has commenced after the site was handed over to a contractor a year ago.
It could be recalled that on 3rd March 2022, the Upper East Regional Minister, Stephen Yakubu, together with the Bongo District Chief Executive, Rita Atanga, handed over the rehabilitation of the canals of the dam to a contractor, who was expected to commence work as soon as possible and complete the project within 30 months.
12 months after the site was handed over, the contractor has begun actual ground work.
Assembly Member for the Vea Electoral Area, Robert Ayariga Atanga, speaking to Mark Smith on A1 Radio’s Daybreak Upper East Show, explained that ground work began about 2 weeks ago.
Mr. Atanga was, however, concerned about the contractor’s inability to engage the community residents ahead of time.
Even more worrying, according to the Assemblyman for the area, is the Irrigation Company of Upper Regions’ (ICOUR) lack of forthrightness.
“We have a contractor in to do the rehabilitation work for us, and it has been about two weeks now. He is at the site working. But what I have to say now is that I don’t have much knowledge about what the contractor is doing on site because the community entry is totally poor.”
“In fact, we are not even aware of what is going on. As they set in, they didn’t even involve any of the community stakeholders, the leaders in the community, but he was there. We have seen him on site, but he didn’t consult any of us. For me as an assemblyman, I don’t even know the one who is the contractor, but I have seen a lot of machines on site and I don’t even know the contractor and I don’t even know the engineers,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Assemblyman said he is yet to meet with the Irrigation Company of Upper Region (ICOUR) to discuss issues of the construction work.
In the coming days, the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority will lead a media engagement and provide further details about the project.
Source:A1Radioonline.Com|101.1MHZ|David Azure|Vea Community|
