Special Development Initiatives in Northern Region on course

The Ministry of Special Development Initiatives (MSDI) has revealed that more than 300 dams spread across various rural communities in the northern part of Ghana are at various stages of completion.

Under the government’s flagship project of One village, One dam (1V1D), the total number of projected small earth dams that were earmarked for construction was 560 and those projects were expected to be undertaken in 56 out of the 57 constituencies in the five regions in the northern part of Ghana.

Each of the 56 constituencies, apart from Tamale Central, is to benefit from 10 small earth dams.

So far, the Maratinga dam in the Pusiga Constituency, Asongezegiri dam in the Nabdam Constituency, Bilinsah dam in the Builsa North Constituency, Gbedembilsi dam in Builsa South, Sakaa dam in the Chiana-Paga Constituency and Kutanga dam in the Bawku Central Constituency are almost complete with residents already using the facilities.

The same situation applies to the Manyoro, Kayoro, Natinga and Tampizua dams.

The policy

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in initiating the project, said it aimed, among other things, to improve rural livelihoods through improved productivity in agriculture, improve food security and mitigate the north-south migration during the dry season.

The 1V1D Upper East Region Project Manager, Ing. Bismark Azupogo, told journalists in an interview, that “Every constituency in northern Ghana is experiencing the dam project which aims at alleviating poverty”.
He said he was optimistic that by the end of the year 2019, all the 300 small earth dams would have been completed and the remaining 260 dams started.

When asked why the Tamale Central Constituency was not benefiting from the dam project, Mr Azupogo said the constituency was already developed and that there was no place to site a dam.

That notwithstanding, he said Tamale Central was still benefiting from other projects that were the initiative of the MSDI through the Northern Development Authority.

Implementation

Mr Azupogo explained that the implementation of the dam project was in three stages; the pre-construction stage, construction stage and the post construction stage.

Under the pre-construction stage, he explained that there was a stakeholder engagement for the selection of a beneficiary community.

“Here the MSDI engages the Northern Development Authority (NDA), the district assemblies, community opinion leaders and community members about the project and its benefits. The community selection for this policy is based on the recommendations of the Northern Development Authority through the district assemblies,” he said.

He explained further that the beneficiary communities were then sensitised after which project inception was done which was followed by feasibility study and outline of the proposal.

The completion of that stage, he added, then paved the way for the community opinion leaders to provide a proposed site for the project.

“This is followed by site analysis and topography mapping. With this exercise, the selected sites are visited and visually assessed for suitability. The good sites are surveyed and topography maps produced.

The completion of the site analysis and topography mapping is immediately followed by dam designs (minimum storage capacity 30,000m3 after which the contract is awarded,” he recounted.

Dugout

The regional project manager said all the dams being constructed had been so designed to have dugouts that served as a reservoir for the dam saying, “this enhances or increases the storage capacity of the dam and also acts as a silt trap to ensure sustainability of the dam”.

A dugout is a depression below the ground level to store water. It can be created within a dam’s reservoir to enhance its storage capacity.

Apart from the dams, Mr Azupogo said the MSDI was also constructing 1000 community water systems to complement existing ones.

Those systems, he added, were at various stages of completion and expressed the hope that they would be fully completed by the end of the year.

In addition, he said, the MSDI was also constructing 1000 institutional toilet facilities with biodigestors, 50 warehouses to store farm produce, 20 clinics, and 50 rural markets to boost the local economies of the beneficiary communities.

“In 2018, those requests were made. 800 of these projects are ongoing under the constituency-specific projects of the Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Program (IPEP). These projects are being spearheaded by the MPs and I can tell you on authority that they are changing lives”, he noted.

Minister throws more light

Throwing more light on the 1V1D initiatve in an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Minister of Special Development Initiatives, Madam Mavis Hawa Koomson, said a majority of the dams being constructed in the five regions in the north under the One village, One dam initiatives were in the strongholds of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

She stated that about 90 of the dams were in NDC strongholds of the Upper East and Upper West regions.

Madam Hawa Koomson was, therefore, surprised that the same people were bad-mouthing the project which was aimed at sustaining their constituents during the dry season.

She was quick to add that the behaviour of the NDC was not strange as it was on record that it had always had doubts about the feasibility of the flagship project by the Akufo-Addo-led administration.

She, therefore, urged constituents who would benefit from the dams to vote against those Minority MPs mocking the project.