Environment

The dam provides electricity to Ghana and its neighboring West African countries, including Togo and Benin. The dam is 660 meters wide and 114 meters at its highest point. The Volta River Authority (VRA) has requested Royal Haskoning to prepare a Dam Safety Assessment for this dam and the much smaller Kpong Dam downstream as well as an Emergency Action Plan to minimize damage and fatalities in case of an emergency. Additional task is the preparation of an Environmental Management Plan to manage the environmental challenges in operating the dam and its projects.

Description of actual services provided by your staff within the assignment
The consulting services comprised:

• Project management
• Environmental (and Social) Impacts Assessment (EIA) for construction, operation and decommissioning of civil works;
• Preparation of Environment Management Plan (EMP) to avoid or minimize adverse environmental effects;
  * Impact identification;
  * Policy and strategy development;
  * Preparation of Environmental Action Plan;
  * Occupational Health and Safety Plan;
• Preparation of Emergency Action Plan (EAP);
• Dam Safety Assessment (DSA), comprising of the following:
  * Assessment of adequacy of warning and other signs with respect to public safety;
  * Preparation of hazard potential classification;
  * Dam break analysis;
  * VRA dam safety organization.
• Institutional support, comprising of the following:
  * Review of existing legislation;
  * Stakeholders meetings to define roles and responsibilities;
  * Stakeholders meetings to define emergency actions;
  * Preparation of public information and participation procedures;
  * VRA dam safety organization;
  * Estimation of costs.
• Training Programme for VRA staff and local consultants involved in implementing the RPF.