Ghana: Irrigation Development Authority, Minority MPs Clash Over State Of Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam Project

The Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA), the agency responsible for the construction of Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam in the Upper East Region of Ghana, has provided detailed explanation on the project, but the explanation has sparked further concerns by the Minority Members of Parliament (MPs), who are accusing GIDA of deceiving the public.

Last Monday, the Minority MPs claimed that their visit to the Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam site showed that there was no activity on the land despite the government sinking $12 million into the project.

The Minority claimed that the contractor had abandoned the site, compelling some locals of the area to turn part of the site into farming.

Led by John Jinapor, a former deputy minister for power and Ranking Member on Mines and Energy Committee in Parliament, the group served notice to use all possible means to ensure that the $12 million spent on the project was accounted for.

However, in a statement issued by GIDA on Tuesday, the agency clarified that the $11.9 million payment to the contractor – Messrs Power Construction Corporation of China (POWERCHINA) – was designated as mobilisation funds.

GIDA emphasised that the payment to POWERCHINA was made in accordance with the terms of the contract, which stipulated a mobilisation fee.

This fee was intended to facilitate initial project activities, including the submission of preconstruction documents and the commencement of certain physical works.

The EPC contract consisted of a detailed feasibility study (engineering designs, social and environmental impact assessment, soil and agronomic studies) and engineering construction (working drawings and setting out of works). It is important to note that these are all preconstruction activities that are required before actual construction works can commence.

GIDA said Messrs POWERCHINA commenced mobilisation to the site on April 2021, and completed the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, Topographic Survey and Mapping, Geology and Geotechnical Studies and Drawing, Soil and Land Sustainability for PIP, Design Report and Drawings in Parts 1-3, Resettlement Action Plan and Cadastral Survey.

Touching on physical activities on the land, GIDA detailed the establishment of a contractor’s camp and site offices at Sariba, which includes 10 buildings with 100 rooms, as well as the completion of auxiliary facilities such as a wood processing factory, a steel bar factory and 5.2-kilometre (km) access road off the main Sariba-K… road to the contractor’s camp and 4 km onsite in and around the camp.

According to GIDA, the project was originally scheduled to be financed under the $2 billion Master Project Support Agreement (MPSA) with the Chinese state-run Sinohydro Corporation Limited in September 2018.

Unfortunately, this arrangement stalled and government had to fall on its regular budget to finance it.

GIDA mentioned that given the constraints with the national budget, government is working on an alternative dedicated funding source to ensure that all components of the project can be executed without any hiccups.

It assured that no frivolous payments had been made and the $11.9 million paid to the contractor was fully covered by a Bank Guarantee valued at US$60.7 million.

However, the Minority MPs appear not to be satisfied with the explanation by GIDA.

The MP for Bongo, Edward Bawa, and Godfred Seidu Jasaw, MP for Wa East and Deputy Ranking Member on Agric Committee in Parliament, in an interview with Accra-based Citi FM, described the explanation by GIDA as misleading.

They stated that the current state of the project site does not match the description by GIDA.

Hon. Seidu Jasaw indicated that the containers and other structures mentioned in the statement are no longer present at the site.

“What Edward Bawa and his team went to see is the same site but what we are seeing now is that the containers have actually disappeared and this is rational. No contractor will leave his containers and go to construct new containers at another site, they don’t do that.

“So, as we speak, the current state of the project is that the camp doesn’t exist anymore; what you see is the relic of a camp that existed. And villagers I’m told came to vandalise the place when they knew the contractors were gone.

“My quick reaction is that the statement by GIDA from my hazy perusal appears to be misleading because the wrong impression is being given, particularly showing committee pictures with camp. These were pictures taken in October 2021,” he stated.

Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo cut the sod in November 2019 for the $993 project which consisted of a hydro-solar hybrid system with 60 megawatts hydropower and 50 megawatts solar power.

The project was to be completed in the second half of 2024.

Source: https://energynewsafrica.com