Dam supplying 2 million gallons of water daily to Kumasi faces imminent shutdown

The Owabi Dam, which has been supplying two million gallons of water daily to Kumasi now faces imminent shutdown as reserved lands meant to protect it, has come under unrestrained encroachment.

So disturbing is the situation that the people of Bokankye-Sennie, one of the communities sited along the banks of the Owabi River that feeds the Dam, have appealed to the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, to intervene.

They have appealed to the King to stop the chiefs from selling the land to developers.

Mr George Kofi Asabre, their Spokesperson, told the Ghana News Agency that more than 1,000 acres of the reserved land is gone.

He said about 500 buildings have sprung up on the stretch of land, purposely demarcated to protect the river banks and prevent it from drying up.

Mr Asabre said if the authorities do not act decisively and with urgency to forestall the situation, the people would be compelled to take the law into their hands to stop the siege.

Nana Owusu Ababio, Chief of Bokankye-Sennie, said selling of the reserved land was done in the past.

He said not a single plot of land has been allocated to anybody for development since 2011, when the Asantehene imposed a customary fine on anyone found doing so.

The Dam, built in 1925, has the capacity to produce three million gallons of water a day.

The Ghana Water Company Limited has complained of huge costs of treating water from the river because of the high level of contamination by effluent and other waste materials.

It may be recalled that the Regional Security Council in the 1990’s pulled down some buildings on the Owabi reserved lands but the action did not stop the encroachment.

Source: GNA