GIDA misled public on $12million Pwalugu Dam project funds – Wa East MP

Godfred Seidu Jasaw, Member of Parliament for Wa East and Ranking Member on the Agric Committee in Parliament has labelled the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority’s (GIDA) response regarding the $12 million spent on the Pwalugu Dam project as misleading.

GIDA explained in a statement that the $12 million was used for the mobilisation of the Pwalugu Dam construction.

The statement detailed the establishment of a Contractor’s Camp and Site Offices at Sariba, which includes 10 buildings with 100 rooms, as well as the completion of auxiliary facilities such as a wood processing factory and a steel bar factory.

However, in an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show with Bernard Avle, Seidu Jasaw emphasised that the current state of the project site does not match GIDA’s description.

He noted that the containers and other structures mentioned in the statement are no longer present.

“The camp did exist. In fact, they were constructing the camp as of the time we visited the place but these were temporal structures. They had blocks that were being moulded to be able to hold the containers. You see, the argument is being mixed up here.

“I am yet to read the whole statement from GIDA but my quick reaction from the renditions that have gone on is that this picture and existence of a camp could be misleading,” he stated.

He explained further that: “What Edward Bawa and his team went to see is the same site but what we are seeing now is that the containers have actually disappeared and this is rational. No contractor will leave his containers and go to construct new containers at another site, they don’t do that.

“So, as we speak the current state of the project is that the camp doesn’t exist anymore, what you see is the relic of a camp that existed. And villagers I’m told came to vandalise the place when they knew the contractors were gone.

“My quick reaction is that the statement by GIDA from my hazy perusal appears misleading. Because the impression is being given, particularly showing committee pictures with camp. These were pictures taken in October 2021,” he stated.

-citinewsroom