Akufo-Addo inspects completed Namoligo “One Village, One Dam” project

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has inspected the newly completed One Village, One Dam (1V1D) project in Namoligo in Talensi, Upper East Region.

Accompanied by the Upper East Regional Minister, Paulina Abayage, and the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Honourable Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the president heard how the construction work, fulfilling a 2016 manifesto pledge by the New Patriotic Party, had been undertaken by the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA).

The Namoligo Dam is one of ten small dams completed by the government through GIDA/the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. The contract for the building of the dam was awarded in May 2019 and the structure is substantially complete.

At a project cost of GHC2.5 million, the Namoligo Dam has a water storage capacity of 145,300 cubic metres and a minimum life of 40 years.

The president learned that, for occasional (supplementary) irrigation, the cropping area for vegetables can increase to roughly 50 hectares, with optimum yields assured, because crops will always get the water they need to ensure healthy growth throughout their growth stage.

Enables free flow

To facilitate access to water for irrigation, two outlets controlled by sluice valves have been built in at vantage points to allow for free flow of water on either side of the valley.

Indeed, GIDA has built ten similar small dams with irrigation outlets in the Upper East and Northern Regions, all in support of the “One Village, One Dam” programme.

The president urged members of the community to take good care of the dam, in the hope that Namoligo and the ten other communities which have been local beneficiaries of the irrigation projects will use them to their greatest advantage.

Since 2017, the government of President Akufo-Addo, in a determined effort to realise the One Village, One Dam policy, has built small earth dams for water storage, irrigation and use by livestock.

So far, 439 small earth dams have begun construction. Of these, 375 have been completed and 64 are between 90 and 100% complete. Each dam provides water for up to five hectares of farmland.

This is the largest stock of such dams provided since independence.

Under the Akufo-Addo government, the Tono Irrigation Dam has been rehabilitated. Similar rehabilitation work on both the left and right banks of the Kpong Dam is also in progress.

Wilberforce Asare / Asaase Radio

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