The Bongo District Assembly, one of the most underdeveloped districts among them, has the honour of handing over the Vea Dam irrigation plan to Rann-Luuk Construction Limited, with work set to begin on March 3, 2022.
The district’s chief executive, the honourable Rita Atanga, praised the government for giving the dam irrigation scheme’s repair priority and added that the facility’s investment will have a positive effect on the lives of residents in the area as well as the district as a whole.
She said, however, that the Vea dam, one of the oldest in the area, was built in 1965–1966 to encourage dry season farming (irrigation), which would assure food security, reduce poverty, and also supply water for other residential uses.
She congratulated the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA) for taking this important step and said that the project spans eight (8) villages, including Vea, Gowrie, Bongo-Nyariga, Bolga-Nyariga, Zaare, Yikene, Sumbrungu, and Dindubisi.
According to the Hon. Regional Minister Stephen Yakubu, the Ghanaian government is dedicated to building new dams, dugouts, and renovating current irrigation projects to give the populace gainful agricultural work and to raise standards of living on a sustainable basis.
The region needs irrigation infrastructure since the rainfall pattern has become unpredictable in recent years, making it difficult for farmers to carry out all year-round farming operations.
His Excellency President Akufo Addo’s goal of lowering food imports has been aided by these programs.
He reiterated that the Vea irrigation infrastructure was created more than 40 years ago and has not undergone any significant restoration since. We’re here today to turn the site over for repair.
4000 farmers lost their livelihoods as a result of the scheme’s abject condition. Additionally, it was said that the program failed due to beneficiaries’ bad attitude toward facility upkeep, nonpayment of water levies, and disregard for established norms and regulations. He urged beneficiaries and administrators to effectively use the program once it was over.
The regional effort to restructure tomato production and access the southern section of the country’s fresh tomato market has taken on a new dimension, the minister stated.
A beneficiary’s representative The Hon. Regional Minister, the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority, the Hon. Bongo DCE and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture are to be thanked on behalf of the farmers for their thoughtful action and initiative to repair the dam.
He claimed that several succeeding administrations promised to repair the dam for them and arrived and flung dirt in their eyes, but they never received any help. Therefore, he continued, people have faith that Nana Akufo Addo’s New Patriotic Party (NPP) would succeed where the others failed.
He further pleaded with the Hon. Minister and DCE to assist in making fertilizer accessible and at a good subsidy level for the farmers because the market is deficient and fertilizer costs are excessive.
The RM and the DCE were urged by the Vea divisional head to assist the group by bridging the Vea dam overflow so that it would be simple to cross during the wet season. The impacted towns’ economies will benefit from this as well.
According to a media-only discussion with the contractor, Jawad Abdul-Rakeeb, and the consultant, Philip Yargson, the contract has a 30-month completion window commencing in March 2022. The deal amount, however, had not yet been made public. The drainage system and channels, they said, are the primary tasks.
Source: Paulina Abebisa (District Officer ISD)
