The government of Ghana cut the sod and started the construction of the Pwalugu Dam in the Upper East Region to check the perennial spillage of the Bagre dam and to harvest water for farming.
The dam which is currently under construction has suffered the ultimate humiliation of dams after submerging when the Bagre Dam was spilled earlier this week according to sources in the Upper East Region.
The Northern Regional Correspondent of Happy 98.9 FM, Aziz Pelpo made known that this incident had proved critics of the dam right.
Speaking to Samuel Eshun, host of the Happy Morning Show, Aziz said, “The dam is still under construction but after the spillage of the Bagre Dam, the Pawlugu Dam has been submerged. Complains of the dam being small have been substantiated. The dam is not big enough to contain water spilled from the Bagre Dam,” he submitted.
The reporter indicated that when work on the dam started, the beneficiary communities complained of it being small. “They described the dam as being a digout.”
“I am not talking about the 1Village 1Dam project but the Pawlugu dam. The people were expecting a bigger dam and we were expecting to harvest water from it but the reality is not what was promised.”
Delayed rainfall in the region and parts of Burkina Faso has seen these areas currently experiencing heavy rainfall in the past two (2) weeks. Coupled with the spillage of the Bagre Dam, most parts of Northern Ghana have been flooded.
The government of Ghana last year cut the sod for the construction of the Pawlugu Dam. The project estimated to cost $750 million was described as the largest investment any government has ever injected into infrastructure expansion in the northern sector since Ghana’s independence from colonial rule in 1957.
Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia said the dam was meant to check the perennial spillage of the Bagre dam and also serve as a source of irrigation for over 25,000 hectares of farmlands.
Dr Bawumia said the Pwalugu Dam would also serve as a source of electricity to local communities in the farming area.