Need to relocate Kasoa toll booth to protect Weija dam – Dr Ahmed
Dr Mustapha Ahmed, Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, on Thursday called for the relocation of Kasoa Toll Booth because commercial activities there posed a threat to the Weija Dam.
“While the booth was sited to realise maximum revenue collection for the economy, the decision overlooked its threat to the water body,” he added.
Dr Ahmed made the call when addressing the opening session of a stakeholders’ workshop on Weija Dam at Weija on Thursday.
He expressed dissatisfaction at the wanton expansion of informal housing encroaching upon the sensitive areas of the dam, and noted that water security was important to the Ministry and pledged government’s commitment towards protection of water bodies in the country.
Dr Ahmed said due to government’s commitment towards water body protection, Ghana had rectified all protocols on water body protection in the Sub-Region.
He appealed to the participants to come out with implementable modalities on how Weija Dam could be protected from negative activities.
Mr Sherriff Otto Dodoo, Ga South Municipal Chief Executive Officer, called for protection of the dam since it provided water for about two million Ghanaians.
He expressed worry about the uncontrolled urbanisation of the landscape in the Municipality where people were constructing buildings on steep slopes.
“The once natural beauty of ridges and the Densu delta have been converted by unplanned development, which the Central and Local government cannot cope with.”
Mr Ronald Abrahams, Officer-in–Charge of Densu River at the Water Resource Commission, cited sand winning, mining activities, fishing, inappropriate disposal of waste and farming along the banks of the dam as some of the illegal activities dwindling its fortunes.
He called for the relocation of the Police Post near the dam because of human activities in the area.
Mr Abrahams called for fencing around the dam to prevent human activities along the banks of the dam.
Source: GNA
The World Bank estimates that forcible “development-induced displacement and resettlement” now affects 10 million people per year. According to the World Bank an estimated 33 million people have been displaced by development projects such as dams, urban development and irrigation canals in India alone.
India is well ahead in this respect. A country with as many as over 3600 large dams within its belt can never be the exceptional case regarding displacement. The number of development induced displacement is higher than the conflict induced displacement in India. According to Bogumil Terminski an estimated more than 10 million people have been displaced by development each year.
Athough the exact number of development-induced displaced people (DIDPs) is difficult to know, estimates are that in the last decade 90–100 million people have been displaced by urban, irrigation and power projects alone, with the number of people displaced by urban development becoming greater than those displaced by large infrastructure projects (such as dams). DIDPs outnumber refugees, with the added problem that their plight is often more concealed.
This is what experts have termed “development-induced displacement.” According to Michael Cernea, a World Bank analyst, the causes of development-induced displacement include water supply (dams, reservoirs, irrigation); urban infrastructure; transportation (roads, highways, canals); energy (mining, power plants, oil exploration and extraction, pipelines); agricultural expansion; parks and forest reserves; and population redistribution schemes.