BUI AUTHORITY TASKED TO PROVIDE ENVIRONMENTAL RESETTLEMENT PLANS (BACK PAGE)

THE Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST) has directed the management of the Bui Power Authority (BPA) to submit a well prepared Environmental Management Plan and a Resettlement Action Plan to the ministry by the close of the year for study.
The directive is to enable the ministry to assess environmental practices being adopted by the BPA in the execution of the Bui Dam project. It is also to determine the strategies being followed towards the payment of a long-term compensation to the communities affected by the implementation of the project.
Additionally, the MEST has requested the management of BPA to make available to it a copy of the whole contract agreement document for perusal by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), since the activity at the project site basically involved environmental issues.
This was the outcome of a closed-door meeting between the sector minister, Ms Sherry Ayittey, and other officials of the ministry and the management of the BPA, during a day’s familiarisation visit to the Bui Dam site.
The minister and her entourage were conducted round the site by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the BPA, Mr Jabesh Amissah-Arthur.
Briefing the press on the meeting at the camp of the Birim Goldfields Limited at Nsawkaw, Ms Ayittey admitted that the BPA had already submitted a copy of an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Plan to the ministry, which, she said, was being studied.
The minister indicated that the BPA had agreed to establish a community information centre at a suitable location within the Banda Traditional Area to be manned by a local person, who would receive all complaints, suggestions and concerns for onward submission to the authority for action.
According to the minister, the meeting agreed that the BPA ought to apply for a permit and certification before it could go ahead with a quarrying activity which it was undertaking for its construction work at the project site, since it was a different venture all together.
She noted that the rock was the bona fide property of the state and as such, whoever was exploiting it should put in the necessary application before doing so and subsequently pay the appropriate royalties to the state, the district assembly and the traditional authorities.
Ms Ayittey pointed out that the ministry had received complaints from La Cote d’Iviore expressing the fear that the construction of the dam would adversely affect some communities along the border as a result of spillage.
Based on that, she said the meeting agreed that the BPA should submit to the ministry documents that pointed to the fact that spillage would not cause any havoc, in order to allay the fears of their neighbours.
She also indicated that there had been complaints about the quality of rock being used to build the dam, and that to curtail the lingering worry, the meeting agreed that the Geological Department and the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) should move to Bui to do independent tests of the rock.
That, she noted, would finally make the communities feel relaxed, once they were convinced that the future of the dam was secured and that their lives were not in danger in any way.
The minister further disclosed that the EPA had been mandated to carry out checks on chemicals and other materials imported to be used for the project, adding that “any bulk importation will be subjected to testing before certification and so the BPA should co-operate with the EPA to go to the port to conduct test on materials brought in and later sit together on the issue of permit”.
The minister said based on a request by the traditional authorities, the BPA had agreed to establish a vocational training centre at Banda Ahenkro, to provide middle level manpower to the youth so that they could be employable, and that agreement had also been reached towards the upgrading of the Banda Ahenkro Clinic to a health centre to see to the quality health care for the people.
Earlier, in a presentation, the CEO disclosed that under phase two of the project, river bed excavation and concrete foundation would start in November, 2009, while commencement of the main dam was to start in December, this year, and that the start of reservoir filling was scheduled for February 2011.
Mr Amissah-Arthur indicated that the first power generation was expected in October 2012. The project is expected to be completed and inaugurated in 2013.
Under phase one of the Bui Hydroelectric Power Project, being undertaken by the Sinohydro Company Limited, a Chinese firm, under a joint People’s Republic of China and the Government of Ghana agreement, commencement of field investigations was in October, 2007, commencement of preparatory works began in January, 2008 while the river diversion was completed in December, 2008.