Project Background:
Accra Plains is located within the Greater Accra and the Volta Regions of Ghana, on the lower banks of the Volta River. The entire Accra Plains consists of about 200,000 hectares, much of which remains under-cultivated due to lack of proper irrigation infrastructure and services.
Systematic efforts to develop parts of the Accra Plains by providing irrigation services date back to 1968 when water was pumped from the Volta River. Following the completion of the Kpong Dam in 1982, a more controlled approach was taken using gravitational irrigation. An initial area of about 3,000 hectares benefitted from the Kpong Right Bank Irrigation Project (KIS). Rehabilitation to the irrigation infrastructure was completed in 2003 after years of poor maintenance. Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA) assumed responsibility over the operation and maintenance of the irrigation infrastructure. To date, however, the irrigation infrastructure for the KIS remains in poor condition and in need of upgrade and rehabilitation work.
A new irrigation development plan for selected areas of the Accra Plains, including the rehabilitation of the former KIS Project areas, has been initiated following a new commitment from the Government of Ghana to improve Ghana’s agricultural production. This new initiative is being led by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) and GIDA. The objective of this development scheme is to rehabilitate the existing KIS and extend new irrigation infrastructure and services to a proposed additional 8,000 hectares under the New Development Irrigation Scheme (NDIS). MOFA and GIDA’s development initiative also targets private sector investment through PPP arrangements for the development, operation and maintenance of new and rehabilitated irrigation infrastructure and the crowding-in of commercial agriculture firms.
The development of the KIS and NDIS together, through a PPP arrangement, constitutes the Accra Plains Irrigation PPP Project. Preliminary technical analysis on the KIS and NDIS has been completed by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency. This analysis provides much of the technical data on which to design the proposed irrigation infrastructure; the cost of rehabilitating KIS and NDIS; the levels of water intake, usage and drainage for each scheme; initial social and environmental scoping review; and initial project management and operation scoping.
Under the proposed PPP arrangement, a private operator would finance, supervise, operate and maintain the Accra Plains Irrigation Scheme leading to the development of up to 11,000 hectares of irrigated land. The Scheme would require the rehabilitation of the KIS Irrigation Project area as well as the construction, operation and maintenance of the new NDIS irrigation network. The estimated cost for the construction cost of the rehabilitation of KIS is around US$14 million; the estimated construction cost for NDIS is around US$77 million. Together the total investment is expected to be around US$90 million.
Current Status:
Pre feasibility Studies (PFS) have been completed on the Project. The Ghana Commercial Agriculture Project is in the process of recruiting a Transaction Advisor to conduct Full Feasibility Studies prior to the procurement of a private sponsor.
For further details, please contact
[email protected] , 026 556 0612