The Volta River Authority (VRA) has developed an Emergency Preparedness Plan (EPP) for the Akosombo and Kpong dams to mitigate any disaster that may occur. The safety assessment of the two dams was put together by consultants from the Association of Royal Haskoning from The Netherlands and Norplan from Norway. It specifies the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders when failure becomes imminent and when expected operational flow release threatens downstream life, property or economic activities. Speaking at a day’s stakeholders’ workshop on the finalisation of the EPP, Mr Kirk Koffi, Deputy Chief Executive of VRA, explained that the development of the EPP was to update its operational procedures and policies in accordance with best international practices in the industry This, he said, had also been emphasized by last month’s spilling from the Akosombo Dam, which was conducted successfully. However, it had some challenges, which would be addressed by the EPP to prevent future occurrence. The workshop, which was a follow-up to a previous one held in January, was attended by district chief executives in the Eastern and Volta regions, heads of departments and agencies and technical staff of VRA. Mr Koffi said the country could not do without the two dams and there was the need to have the EPP to salvage any emergency situation that would occur. Mr Alex Hooijer, team leader of the consultants, who took participants through the EPP, said it was prepared for VRA to help it identify primary procedures and processes to identify and evaluate emergency situations, notify appropriate emergency management organisations and carry out preventive actions to reduce the impact of emergency situations. It will also assist the emergency management organisations in reducing the impact of an emergency situation by providing tools for the pre-emergency risk assessment, preparedness building and training in the potentially affected areas as well as planning emergency response and relief management in the affected area. The consultants looked at the status of the Akosombo and Kpong dams to identify problems and recommend remedial repairs, operational restrictions, determine environmental, social and public health impact that are generated by the existence and operation of the dams and develop an environmental management plan to address such problems. They were also to develop EPP that would identify potential emergency conditions and specify pre-planned activities to be followed to minimise property damage and loss of lives. Mr Hooijer noted that should there be any spill or disaster at the two dam sites, a total of 325,000 potential people would be affected in one way or the other. He urged the district assemblies in the potentially affected areas and VRA to implement the EPP for the management of disasters and effects of spill that may occur. Source: GNA