SYNOPSIS OF JAMES MOXONS’ ‘VOLTA: MAN’S GREATEST LAKE”: The story of
Ghana’s Akosombo Dam - VRA @ 50
From inauspicious beginnings towering monuments of stature and grandeur have sprung forth to
define mankind’s greatest standards of achievement in engineering, science and technology. An
observation by a geologist Sir Albert Kitson, a colonial official of the energy production potential of a
river gorge fired the imagination of Duncan Rose, a mining engineer from South Africa and drove him
to the initial conceptualization of an aluminium smelter to be powered by cheap hydro-electric
power. The little acorn had thus been planted, fortunately on a fertile soil and the sapling nurtured by
forces that it needed to grow into purpose and which sometimes nearly buffeted it to destruction, is
now the glorious and mighty oak tree. Such is the story of VRA which as a developing concept was
called the VRP. With the completion of the project the resulting Volta Lake takes the pride of place as
the largest man-made lake in area covering 3275 square miles. However with a capacity of some 120
million acre feet of water it cedes precedence to Kariba, Bratsk (USSR) and Aswan.
The VRA has a long and complex history. In 1899 there was a survey to determine the commercial
exploitation of the Volta Basin. Sixteen years later, in 1915 a colonial office geologist, later to become
Sir Albert Kitson, posted to the Gold Coast to discover what other mineral wealth apart from gold the
country was endowed with, was indeed the first to discover bauxite deposits as well as the industrial
diamond deposits at Akwatia plus iron ore deposits at Shieni.
On April 24th, 1915 as part of a countrywide survey by canoe Kitson made the following entry in his
diary for that day:” I noticed on entering the narrow gorge at Ajena that it was an ideal place for a
dam…. Later Akosombo, 2.5 miles below Ajena, was examined and other technical factors considered,
which recommended Akosombo as ideal for the dam. A potential of great moment, transformation
and prosperity has been identified. Credit is here due to Duncan Rose, a true pioneer who chanced
upon a copy of Kitson’s bulletin in a public library in Johannesburg in November 1938 and within
months was in Gold Coast. Shortly thereafter with the help of a partner had prepared a preliminary
report which he presented to the Gold Coast Government as “tentative proposals for a hydro-electric
scheme costing some £2.5 – 3.5 million.” This was a minor step for his syndicate but the beginning of
the thousand mile journey into Ghana’s future.
On April 26th, 1961 almost half a century after Kitson’s observation, the Volta River Authority was
established by Act 46 of the Parliament of Ghana entitled the Volta River Development Act with the
core business of generating and supplying electrical energy for domestic, commercial and industrial
use to power Ghana development
Far from being a wholly Ghanaian natural asset the Volta is truly an ECOWAS (Economic Community
of West Africa) endowment since its waters originate from no less than 6 West African states and…
almost two thirds of its 150000 square miles (3) is outside Ghana in Burkina Faso (Upper Volta), Togo
and Benin and to a lesser extent in the Cote D’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and Mali. But the 61000 square
miles of it that lie within the boundaries of Ghana is the crucial part; it is there that the combined
waters of the White, Black and Red Volta together with the Oti join forces to form that massive flow
that with the construction of the Akosombo dam had, in a matter of two years, filled the largest manmade lake in the world in surface area.
“Akosombo dam is situated within the river’s only gorge other than Bui 68 miles from its mouth at the
point where the river cleaves the Akwapim – Togo range of hills. This is the first time that a river
system of such size has been artificially controlled so near its estuary and the consequent economic
advantages are obvious.”
The VRA as it stands today was originally envisaged as part of a multi purpose economic scheme. The
smelting of bauxite into aluminium given the attractive world market price was the economic
justification for the generation of cheap power and the magnet and incentive that pulled leading
aluminum producers to the project.
Described at various times as involving the most complex negotiations, the VRP is, according to Sir
Robert Jackson, Chairman of the Preparatory Commission: “probably unique in the extraordinary
political setting which surrounded its conception, planning and construction. Its seeds were planted in
the closing stages of a British Crown Colony, struggled to life in the early days of the life of the first of
the new African States and are now represented by a great power and growing industrial complex
where men of many races can work together and where public and private capital is joined in
effective partnership.”
By all accounts the process involved the most complex negotiations driving one participant at the
signing of the financial documents in Washington in 1962 to officially conclude the deal to describe its
tortuous process as “the most complicated piece of international financing since Queen Marie was
selling Romanian bonds.”
As though that was not absorbing enough the negotiations were set against a background of EastWest ideological power struggle on the African continent. The proposal went through not less than
ten reviews and reassessments aimed at trimming costs to affordable levels. Meanwhile interested
parties, individuals and companies entered into and disengaged from syndicates, revised their
positions regarding financial commitments because of the burgeoning scale of the project which was
estimated at one time to cost £300 million.
Independence had been celebrated in March 1957 with all the euphoria and enthusiasm, pomp and
circumstance that the first African country South of the Sahara and her well-wishers the world over
could generate but the VRP was still hanging fire. Prime Minister Nkrumah was not prepared to give
up his vision for Ghana’s industrialization based on cheap and abundant electricity from Akosombo.
Starting with the U.S. President Eisenhower and later President Kennedy and the Canadian
government for support the strategy he presented was what Kaiser was to recommend later namely
Ghana would build and own the dam and power plant with associated infrastructure, transmission
lines etc while private enterprise build and own the smelter which will generate revenue from
electricity purchases to amortize the loan. However a slump in the aluminum market and rising stocks
and inventories had been a damper on aluminum companies to invest in the project.
Enter Kaiser Engineers jointly appointed by President Eisenhower and Dr. Nkrumah to review the
project proposals in its entirety with a view to reducing the phenomenal overall costs. Within six
months the Kaiser Re-assessment Report was out. Based on considerations of technical, engineering
and new technological advances, the dam was shifted from Ajena to Akosombo while the smelter was
shifted from Kpong to Tema to profit from already existing or planned civic facilities and thus avoid
costly duplication solely for the benefit of the smelter. The bauxite mining and alumina plant
component was to be postponed for 10 years and thus disencumber the project of the immediate
need for investment in the development of bauxite mines, railways and an alumina plant which was
not easy to come by and which was further delaying the project. The whole character of the project
was thus altered simply to a power supply project without developing apace Ghana bauxite resources.
With this critical reconfiguration the project was now estimated at £70 million including transmission
to the major cities and urban communities in the southern third of the country and mining areas.
ALCAN’s power ceiling power price was below US$2.5 mills.
The cost of the smelter was estimated at £128 million. Ghana would build and own the hydro-electric
dam while private aluminum companies built and owned the Aluminum Smelter.
Financial closure was the next major critical hurdle. Approaches to the World Bank and bilateral
sources including the USA and the UK governments were made while Kaiser whose report was
adopted as the roadmap was requested by President Nkrumah to mobilize aluminum companies to
invest in the smelter.
The World Bank was ready to finance the project with £30 millions about half the project cost and at
that time the biggest loan in the bank’s history. There were however some stiff conditions attached
including a ceiling to Ghana’s borrowing and some complicated power price tariffs to be guaranteed
through negotiation. But the goodwill was there and further intensive consultation and negotiation
enabled the US government to throw in some soft loans while the UK offered some bilateral
contribution tied to purchases. In the last analysis President Kennedy it was who made the final
decision that smoothened the path for various western governments and companies to come to
agreement with the government of Ghana and thus bring financing closure to the project. The Master
Agreement between the Ghana government and VALCO was signed between President Nkrumah and
Edgar Kaiser on 22nd January 1962.
Commencement of Construction
To execute the Akosombo dam and power plant a thorough painstaking transparent tendering and
selection process considered 45 bidders. Impregilo of Italy builders of Kariba dam won at a price £
16million which was 20% lower than the Engineers' Estimate. Some 98 firms also tendered for
equipment supply out of which substantial savings were also realized. From Japan, Britain, Austria,
Canada and Italy were thus sourced the major components.
On Impregilo’s arrival at Akosombo in 1961 a construction camp was ready for them in the form of
the beginning of Akosombo Township. There was already accommodation for 130 senior staff and
professionals, 350 skilled technicians and clericals and 600 unskilled labourers. A school, fire and
police stations were ready. The planned hospital followed later.
The immediate challenge was the removal of 1.5 million cubic yards of sand from 200 feet of water at
200 cubic yards per hour. Simultaneously two coffer dams, one upstream and the other downstream
and two diversion channels on the East and West flanks were under construction. The hellish din and
metallic cacophony kicked up by these activities is best captured at p 123 of James Moxons book:
Volta Man’s Greatest Lake: “The whirl of machines, the shuffling stamping feet of plastic helmeted
human beings and the constant thunderous dynamite drove away crocodiles, monkeys, rodents and
reptiles in an unprecedented stampede. Akosombo bristled and vibrated with intense engineers’
activity.”
VRA Starts Operations
The construction was not without challenges but the experience of the contractors was enough to
overcome all odds and keep within schedule. Thus, in early 1966 VRA started operations with an
installed capacity of 588MW, expanding to 768MW in 1972. The Kpong dam and hydro plant
downstream came on stream in 1981 and complemented VRA’s available capacity by 160 MW.
Incremental additions to VRA’s capacity continued, and by 2009, the Takoradi Thermal Power Plant
had added 550MW at Takoradi and others at Tema including the Mines Reserve Plant and Siemens
Plant brought VRA’s total capacity to 1765MW.
The smelter started operations in April 1967 at 110,000 tons per year capacity, expanded in 1972 to
158,000 ton per year capacity and hit its peak of 200,000 tons per year in 1977.
Impact of VRA
The impact of the VRA has been felt not only within the country but also in the wider benefits that
have accrued to the countries in the Volta Basin.
A water transportation system to carry heavy freight of cargo of foodstuff petroleum and passengers
to the North and other social services to the riparian communities is yet to be fully realized.
The abundant fish resource made possible by the vast lake provides the basis for a viable and thriving
Volta lake fishing activity which enhances the nutrition of the people of the country as well as provide
livelihood for artisanal fishermen and lay the foundation for canning, preservation and related
enterprises. The irrigation scheme mainly in the Accra Plains and other suitable locations within reach
of the Volta below the dam is also a scheme to ensure food security and make Ghana exporter of
agricultural products.
Here also the prospects for agriculture based industrialization are a vast and economically feasible.
The vision of improving the quality of life for the Ghanaian must necessarily be deemed to embrace
the majority who live in the rural areas and on whose labour and toil rest Ghana’s economy. In all
fairness they are entitled to the amenities that would introduce them to advances in technology and
that would empower them to enhance productivity and economic performance and Ghana’s GDP.
The postponement of the smelting of Ghana bauxite for ten years was part of the rationalisation for
bringing the cost of the project down. Even in Nkrumah’s absence the dream has been kept alive and
efforts are being still being made to utilize Ghana’s extensive bauxite reserves to produce alumina
and aluminum, the initial justification for producing cheap and abundant electrical power.
On the international side the extension of power to Togo, Burkina, Benin and the power sharing
arrangement with Cote d’Ivoire have yielded economic and social benefits to these countries and laid
the foundation for a wide power system known as the West Africa Power Pool including Nigeria.
In a suitable conclusion to this piece, I quote once again an appropriate passage from James Moxons’
‘Volta: Man’s Greatest lake”:
“Volta has come a long way since Sir Albert Kitson, during his 1915 canoe trip, first recognized at
‘Akosombo’ a pre-eminent site for a dam; since Duncan Rose read Kitson’s report in the Johannesburg
public library and immediately made tracks for the Gold Coast to satisfy himself that it was feasible;
and since President Kennedy had the courage to say in 1961 that, in the true interests of Africa, the
Project must go forward and the necessary loans be made. In the years ahead it will come to be taken
for granted, will appear always to have been there. The loans will have been repaid from revenue,
according to plan, and Ghana will have not only the advantages of the lake itself but also a perpetual
power from its flowing waters. This is a legacy indeed from the old age to the new, from the Gold
Coast to Ghana, from the twentieth century to the future.”
(3) Page: 250 – Volta – Mans Greatest Lake
Volta has come a long way since Sir Albert Kitson, during his 1915 canoe trip, first recognized at ‘Akonsombo’ a pre-eminent site for
the dam; since Duncan Rose read Kitson’s report in the Johannesburg public library and immediately made tracks for the Gold Coast
to satisfy himself that it was feasible; and since President Kennedy had the courage to say in 1961 that, in the true interests of Africa,
the Project must go forward and the necessary loans be made. In the years ahead it will come to be taken for granted, will appear
always to have been there. The loans will have been repaid from revenue, according to the plan, and Ghana will have not only the
advantage of the lake itself but also perpetual power from its flowing waters. This is a legacy indeed from the old age to the new,
from the Gold Coast to Ghana, from the twentieth century to the future.