President Mahama rescopes stalled $1B Pwalugu Dam project after years of delays
President John Dramani Mahama announced his administration is rescoping the troubled Pwalugu Multi-purpose Dam project and plans to re-award the contract for execution, more than five years after construction began with little progress to show.
The $993 million project, originally launched by former President Nana Akufo-Addo in November 2019, was designed to address perennial flooding in Northern Ghana while providing irrigation schemes and generating 60 megawatts of hydropower and 50 megawatts of solar power.
Despite nearly $12 million in state expenditures, no significant construction work has been completed at the site.
Mahama, who won the 7 December election and assumed office in January, described the project site as “a crime scene” during a gathering in Bolgatanga and revealed that the Attorney-General is investigating the $12 million expenditure.
“It was supposed to be funded from Government of Ghana sources. Government of Ghana didn’t have the money and so, the contract was not executed and so we are rescoping it,” Mahama said during his latest comments on the project.
The president disclosed the project may now be funded under his administration’s Big Push Infrastructure programme, with costs potentially reaching GHC 12 billion (approximately $1 billion). Due to budget constraints, the project would likely be executed in phases.
“This year the total budget for Big Push was GHC 14 billion. Next year, the total budget is 30 billion and so, we will see how we can accommodate it in phases,” Mahama explained. He said Phase 1 would focus on electricity production, while Phase 2 would handle flood control and irrigation.
The original contract was awarded to Chinese state-owned Synohydro Corporation and later transferred to Power Construction Corporation of China (POWERCHINA). The project was scheduled for completion within four years and two months but has seen virtually no progress since the 2019 groundbreaking ceremony attended by Akufo-Addo and Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia.
The Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA) defended the $12 million payment, clarifying that the funds were mobilization fees paid to POWERCHINA in three installments totaling $11.9 million.
According to GIDA, these payments were contractually required for pre-construction activities including feasibility studies, engineering designs, and environmental impact assessments.
“Under the contract, the government was expected to pay $48.57 million (12% of the total contract sum of $404.76 million) as mobilization to the contractor,” GIDA stated, noting that only 25% of the total advance mobilisation had been paid.
The project was originally conceived to construct a roller compacted concrete dam with an elevation of 168 metres above sea level near the Pwalugu Bridge on the White Volta River.
The reservoir would cover 262 square kilometers and include a powerhouse with two Kaplan turbines and an irrigation scheme for about 25,000 hectares of land.
