NPP’s 'one village, one dam' to cost GHC55 million

The New Patriotic Party says it has budgeted 55 million cedis for its “one village one dam policy.”

During his on-going campaign tour to the Northern Region, Nana Akufo-Addo said he will prioritize the development of agriculture in the three northern regions by increasing the number of irrigation systems if he wins power.

“You have been hearing me talking about 1-District-1-Factory. As far as this part of the country is concerned, I even want to go further and talk about ‘1-village-1-dam’, to make sure that in every village, we have a functioning dam to support agriculture. If Ghana’s agriculture is working well, the nation is capable of feeding West Africa”, he indicated. Already, government has said that it is implementing a similar project.

Food and Agriculture Minister, Alhaji Muniru Limuna had insisted, the promise is “nothing new”.

The sector minister told 3FM, “As we speak now, there are a lot of irrigation programmes that are going on. Others have been done. For instance, the newly irrigated areas since 2009 to date covers 3,625 hectres of land. We have also rehabilitated some existing irrigation schemes. That also covers 8044 hectres….He is only promising and we are doing”

But speaking on 3FM’s MIDDAY news on Monday, chairman of the NPP’s campaign committee in charge of agriculture, Dr. Afriyie Akoto Osei said the party has already assessed the cost of the policy.

“55 million will be more enough to supply every village in the savannah zone with a dam,” he told Kwakye Afreh-Nuamah on 3news.com.

Responding to the comments by the agric minister, Dr. Afriyie Akoto asked why the minister fell short of providing specifics relating to the number of dams they have constructed so far. “Why couldn’t he give specific figures?” he questioned.