After Initial Hesitations

By Liberty Amewode, News Editor, Back From Jomoro District

Skillful persuasions employed by selected officials from the Ghana National
Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and the Volta River Authority (VRA) over the
weekend averted what could have become a major obstacle to the proposed Gas
Processing Plant to be constructed in the Jomoro District of the Western
Region.
The officials had gone to the area to engage with the residents, many of whom
will be affected by the project, and to explain efforts by the government to
minimize their suffering.
The meeting with the people of Bonyere, a major town in the district, took hours
as a crisis situation had to be reversed in order to have fruitful discussions
with residents who simply refused to attend the forum at the venue set up by the
chief of the area, Nana Nyameke Annor III and set up another spot for the
meeting.
It took tact and diplomacy on the part of the officials, aided by the District
Security Council, to defuse the tension, eventually appeasing both parties and
holding the meeting at both places.
The multi-million dollar gas processing plant at Bonyere in readiness for the
first natural gas from the Jubilee Field in the Western Region has however
received the full backing of landowners and chiefs from Nzemaland.
This followed an initial protest by farmers after they were said to have been
misinformed by an NGO that a chunk of their land would be taken and crops
destroyed without appropriate compensation paid to them.
The communities were said to have acted on that after a survey at the project
site in Bonyere indicated that some individual farms would be affected and
started to demonstrate against the establishment of the plant.
But at a meeting with the GNPC, the VRA, the Ministry of Energy, chiefs and the
district assembly at the weekend the issue of compensation was thoroughly
discussed and the people have embraced the project, saying they do not want the
project to be relocated to another district.
The project, which is registered with the Environmental Protection Agency, will
address issues such as environmental and social impact assessment studies for
the offshore aspect of the project to be carried out by Continental Shelf
Associates.
Also the resettlement framework policy study contract which will take care of
the environmental and social management framework study has been awarded.
Areas visited by the team include New Kabenlasuazo, Bokakole, Egbazo, Bonyere,
Ndumsuazo and Takinta all in the Jomoro District.
The Business Analyst’s observation was that most of the youth in the
afore-mentioned areas were ill informed about the project and its ramifications
in the area. A few of them who spoke to this reporter claimed some of them have
been made to think that some form of extraction was going to happen on the land,
and taking a cue from what happens in the mining areas, they decided to resist
the project since it could lead to the degradation of the land.
After the clarifications, many of them were happy about the project but remained
skeptical about compensation. But their fears were allayed when Mr. Emmanuel
Martey of the VRA explained to them how the compensation package will be
handled.
According to him, independent Valuers appointed by the government will visit the
area to assess the economic situation of their crops, mostly coconut, and
calculate the compensation according to the economic life span of the trees.
He assured them of appropriate reparation, saying that the government was
committed to making sure that the effect of the project on the people was
reduced to the barest minimum.
Mr. Martey however cautioned the chiefs and people to resolve whatever
differences they have, particularly over land issues, in order to receive the
compensation in time since the government will not be in a hurry to pay the
recompense on land if there is a dispute on it.
He urged them to send their children to school so that they can
acquire employable skills to take advantage of the economic boom coming to the
area as a result of the gas plant.
The Environmental Officer in charge of Special Projects of the VRA, Mr. Seyram
Dzefi, said the project was registered with the Environmental Protection Agency
and will address issues such as environmental and social impact assessment
studies for the offshore aspect of the project to be carried out by Continental
Shelf Associates.
“Also the resettlement framework policy study contract which will take care of
the environmental and social management framework study has been awarded”, he
added.
The District Chief Executive for Jomoro, Mr. Victor Nyianyi Kablan, asked the
people to whole-heartedly embrace the project, saying it would bring economic
progress to the area. He called on them to disregard any information which
seeks to incite them against the project.
The assembly member for New Kabenlasuazo, Malik Issa, expressed his joy about
the community engagements embarked on by the officials to the Business Analyst,
saying he looks forward to the gas plant being constructed in the area which is
expected to bring a lot of economic gain.