The Akosombo Dam
A Guide to One of Ghana's Largest Man-Made Structures
The Akosombo dam was built in the 1960’s to generate a large portion of Ghana’s electricity through Hydro-electric Power (HEP). The building of the dam created one of the biggest man-man lakes in history, Lake Volta.
The lake covers about 1/7 of Ghana’s surface area. The dam was built by two American companies who made an agreement with the Ghanaian government, that stated that for twenty years, all the electricity that was generated would go to the factories that the American companies owned.
The Akosombo Dam Project
The Akosombo hydro-electric project was meant, among others things, to open up Ghana to rapid industrialization and in turn modern development. Other positive impacts of the HEP project have included more fishing, farming, transportation and tourism in the area.
The dam is 660 metres wide and 114 metres high. It cost around £130 million to build. It was built between 1961 and 1965.
Were There any Problems with the Building of the Akosombo Dam?
Yes, there were many problems with the dam, below are some of the problems that the creation of the dam made:
One major problem with the dam, was that it cost Ghana a huge amount of money, that may have been put to better usage, although the dam provides electricity to a large part of Ghana, the people of Ghana have not actually benefited from the building of the dam, as it was supposed to. This is because the dam is used by many major companies in the area such as Kaiser Aluminum, and they are using up much of the power that was intended for use by the people of Ghana.
Also, during the construction of the dam, the project created many jobs which was a large positive for the government, because it reduced unemployment levels, but once the dam was completed the workers were simply laid off, and so families that were literally “living” of the dam lost their main source of income.
The construction of the dam destroyed 740 villages and displaced over 800,000 people, this could have destroyed age old tribes, and sacred burial areas.
Problems With Energy Supply to Ghana
One major problem with the energy supply to Ghana is the amount of land, compared to the population. The issue is that there is much more land in comparison to the population, so the people of Ghana can be incredibly spaced out in areas, so providing electricity to these rural areas can be very hard.
Also, Ghana did not have the amount of money needed for such a large operation, unless it were to either increase its exports, or decrease its imports, therefore either making more money or just saving it. The country had tp rely on aid from many different sources to help the funding of the dam project.
These problems caused by the construnction of the dam may have been averted had Ghana undergone a huge nationwide modernization program so there are many more towns and cities, so it would be easier to provided these places with power than rural areas. This however, is quite an unrealistic option which would cost the Ghanan government huge amounts of capital.
Sources:
The Akosombo Dam, Ghana
|
What do you think about this article?
More in Technology
Latest Articles