Govt to set up Lake Bosomtwe management c’ttee
The government is to set up a permanent committee to oversee the efficient and sustainable management of Lake Bosomtwe, which is the source of livelihood for about 30 communities with a population of 70,000.
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This comes amid growing concerns about the pollution and depletion of the lake’s fish stock.
Mr Akwasi Opong-Fosu, Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), said the committee would be made up of representatives of the traditional authorities, district assembly, Forestry Commission, Water Resources Commission (WRC) and the Ministry of Fisheries.
Mr Opong-Fosu made this known when he visited Abono, one of the communities in the basin of Lake Bosomtwe, as part of a two-day official tour of the Ashanti Region.
Lake Bosomtwe, a natural lake situated within an ancient meteorite crater, is about eight kilometres in diameter and one of the country’s major tourist attractions.
Mr Opong-Fosu said besides its economic importance, the lake was also a significant national asset.
“That is why the ministry would go to every length to make sure that the lake is properly preserved to continue to sustain the livelihood of the people,” he said
He added that the committee would work with stakeholders in the lake’s basin to ensure that the right things were done.
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Mr Mark Osa Arkong of the Water Resource Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research informed the minister that UNESCO was sponsoring a collaborative research into the sustainable management of the lake.
He also said the research was prompted by the local people’s complaints that “the lake is shrinking and the fish stock, the mainstay of the economy of the area, has kept reducing both in size and quantity”.
Mr Arkong said preliminary investigations showed that there was severe pressure on the lake due to various human activities which were polluting the lake and affecting economic activities.