Regional News of Monday, 20 May 2019
Source: mynewsgh.com
Contrary to what has been widely known and accepted as a standard measure and expected period of commencement and completion of structural projects particularly dams, it has emerged that some dams currently being constructed under government’s One Village One Dam policy are being started and completed in less than one week.
This is according to residents of some communities in the Upper East region who have expressed shock and disappointment at the manner in which the dams are being constructed.
Community members of Dachio and Kajolo both in the Upper East region say they were ‘wowed’ by the execution of the projects in their respective areas in less than a week.
Expressing their disapproval in an interview with A1 Radio’s Joshua Asaah and monitored by MyNewsGh.com, the residents say what has been done does not qualify as dams and cannot be helpful to them as expected.
“How can you construct a dam in less than a week, in fact in four days” a Male community member quizzed.
Out of a total of 140 dams allocated to the Upper East region, only 40 have been constructed with some at various stages of completion with each dam estimated to cost Two hundred and Forty Thousand Ghana cedis (GH¢240,000).
Meanwhile, Former Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University for Development Studies (UDS), Professor David Millar has described as a failure governments One-Village One-Dam initiative currently being implemented in the Northern part of the country.
Speaking in a documentary interview by Bolga based A1 Radio’s reporter Joshua Asaah and monitored by MyNewsGh.com, Professor David Millar, a development consultant and founder of the Millar Open University said the implementation of the One Village One Dam programme has been characterized by misplaced priorities, inappropriate siting and poor construction which have virtually negated the purpose and essence of the initiative.
“Some of them are misplaced. You don’t go giving a village that has a dam another dam and go to a village that has a whole river that doesn’t dry and give them a dam” he said.