Work on Afife Irrigation Dam rehabilitation to begin soon

Accra, Nov 1, GNA - Mr Ernest Debrah, Minister for Food and Agriculture on Tuesday said the Ministry in August this year signed a contract for the rehabilitation of the Afife Irrigation Dam. This forms part of a decision taken by the Ministry in 2003 to rehabilitate nine of the 22 public Irrigation projects in the country of which the Afife Dam project was one.

Mr Debrah said this in parliament in an answer to a question by Mr James Avedzi, NDC Ketu North, as to when the Ministry will commence work on the rehabilitation of the Afife Dam.

"Most of the 22 Dams including Afife are performing far below their potential, because they have run down due to poor maintenance," Mr Debrah said.

He said the nine projects would be funded from the Agricultural Services Sub Sector Improvement Programme (AgSSIP) and that the Afife project site had been handed over to the contractor since September 24 this year.

The Afife project is programmed for completion by August 2006. When asked what his ministry was doing to compensate people affected by the construction of the Afife irrigation dam, Mr Debrah said the Ministry would contact the Lands Valuation Board to be apprised of outstanding issues relating to such acquisitions. He said at the time of the acquisition, compensation was paid only for economic trees and other properties on the land that had been destroyed.

"Once the Executive Instrument was passed to compulsorily acquired lands, it was the responsibility of the affected landowners to lodge a claim at the Lands Valuation Board for compensation to be paid to them on appropriate scheduled dates," the Minister added.