Construction of the Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam in the Upper Eastern Ghana region in the north of the country will be launched in November 2019. The dam, built by Sinohydro, will be used to produce electricity, drinking water and irrigate plantations.
The President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo, will visit Talensi District, Upper Eastern Ghana Region, for the laying ceremony of the foundation stone for the construction of the Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam. Vice-President Mahamududu Bawumia, who recently spoke on the subject, indicated that the work would be launched in November 2019.
The work will be carried out by the Chinese company Sinohydro, which is already building several dams in Africa. The company, which employs more than 127,000 people worldwide, plans to raise the Pwalugu dam to a height of 165 m on the White Volta River. It will have a 350 km2 water-retaining reservoir. Below the dam, Sinohydro will build a hydroelectric power plant with two turbines. They will have a combined capacity of 60 MW and a firm continuous capacity of 16.5 MW.
A dam for irrigation and drinking water
The electricity produced from the Pwalugu dam will be evacuated via a 15 km high-voltage line to an existing substation. It will then join the national network. Once this part of the project is completed, a water intake will have to be built in the dam reservoir so that the resource pumped there can supply irrigation systems in northern Ghana.
The government estimates that the Pwalugu Multipurpose Dam will be used to irrigate at least 25,000 hectares of plantations. They will mainly produce cereals such as rice and maize. Rice production is estimated at 117 000 tonnes and maize at 49 000 tonnes per year. With this dam, farmers will now be able to grow tomatoes, sweet potatoes, peppers and onions all year round. It will also be used to produce drinking water for populations living downstream of the infrastructure.
In addition, “the construction of the dam, which has been under consideration since independence, has become imperative due to annual flooding and deaths in areas within the Bagre Dam drainage channel upstream of Burkina Faso,” says Mahamudududududu Bawumia. The Pwalugu Dam project will require an investment of $300 million. It receives support from the World Bank and the French Development Agency (AFD).
Jean Marie Takouleu
