President Nana Akufo Addo has cut sod for the commencement of the Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam and Irrigation Project at Pwalugu in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region.
The Pwalugu Multi-purpose Dam and Irrigation Project when completed will have a water reservoir that will cover a land area of 262 Km square, with an elevation of 168m above sea level.
The project is also expected to irrigate about 25,000 hectares of land with canals for all year round farming.
Other benefits that will come with the Pwalugu Dam is the generation of 60 MW hydro-power and a 50 MW Solar power plant.
The 15 months project is expected to cost closed to one $1 billion and the cost will be covered by the government of Ghana.
It will be executed by Power China from the Republic of China.
If fulfilled, the 25,000 hectares irrigation scheme will be the largest irrigated land in the country and will boost the economies of the Upper East and North East Regions through agriculture and other activities that will come with it.
It will take five years to cover the entire 25,000 hectares with canals and will attract commercial farmers as well as some 100s of small scale farmers in the areas of crop and fish farming.
The Pwalugu Dam will serve as a flood control, gathering the large volumes of excess water from the Bagre Dam and the perennial rainfalls in the Upper East and North East Regions.
President Akufo Addo in a speech at the sod cutting ceremony called on communities located around the project area to cooperate with the contractor to ensure that the work is executed within the contract period.
“The transformation of the North will depend largely on investment in the Agricultural Sector. An investment the will cater for infrastructure and development of other components of the agro value chain. The North has the potential to cultivate rice in large quantities and an investment in cultivation, processing and storage facilities will lead to a significant cut in the amount spent in importing rice for consumption,” the President said.
According to President Akufo-Addo, when he announced the transformation of the North in an address in Parliament, he meant business and pledged his commitment to ensure that the project is completed and the people of the Upper East and North East Regions benefit from the project.
He commended the chiefs in the project’s catchment area and pleaded with them to continue engaging their subjects to accept the compensation packages that will be given them to curb litigations that will delay the project.
“The dam will bring many opportunities; there will be an increase in fish farming and will lead to the revamping of the Pwalugu Tomato Factory. These opportunities will create jobs and many people will be gainfully engaged,” he noted.
Minister of Energy, John-Peter Amewu, charged the Chinese construction firm, Power China to comply strictly by the Local Content Agreement, saying, government is serious with the terms reached and will not tolerate non- compliance by the contractor.
BY Ebo Bruce-Quansah, Pwaluguw