The governing New Patriotic Party in the Upper East Region has disputed assertions that the government’s ‘One Village, One Dam’ initiative has failed.
According to Regional Communication Director of the party, Peter Ayinbisa , dams constructed under the initiative are serving the purpose for which they were built.
Mr. Ayinbisa argued that although most of them dry up in the dry season, beneficiary communities now have access to water for their domestic and constructional activities as well as for rearing livestock thus, the initiative cannot be said to have failed.
“When the projects started, did it provide some amount of relief or support to the people or the beneficiary communities or not. And the answer is yes. It’s yes because it’s not only irrigation but our animals hitherto used to roam far, in search for water to drink.
When the dams were constructed, that thing became a thing of the past. People fetch water from those dams to mould blocks, mould bricks and construct their homes. And all these are some benefits of the dams. So for me, we cannot say it’s a failed project. In technical terms, it has not failed, there are challenges,” he stated in in an interview on Breakfast News.
A research conducted by the Northern Patriots in Research and Advocacy (NOPRA) into the functionality and cost effectiveness of the ‘1V1D’ initiative has revealed that most of the projects are not fit for purpose.
Also, contrary to the GH₵250,000 quoted by government as the cost of each project, NOPRA’s findings again show that each of the 285 dams constructed so far cost GH₵670,350, bringing the total expenditure to a colossal amount of GH₵201,113,875.
But Mr. Ayinbisa faulted the findings, arguing that the research did not cover most of the projects under the initiative.
He also disputed assertions that the dams were constructed mainly for irrigational purposes.
