11 FACTORS THAT HAVE FAVOURED THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AKASOMBO DAM PROJECT IN GHANA

The Akasombo dam project was opened in 1966 and was built across the volta river where the river passes through the narrow gorge.

The project was funded by Ghana, the United States of America, Britain, and the world bank.

The following are factors which have favored the establishment of the Akasombo dam project:

• Presence of skilled labor used in the construction and maintenance of dam project
• The high level of technology employed to put up the project, provided especially by Britain and the USA such as the use of large turbines to generate power

• The presence of a large market for power in the surrounding countries, which encouraged investment in the dam projects.
• The seasonal fluctuation of the Volta and therefore the need to regulate the flow such as control of flooding during the rainy season.
• There was a need to generate hydroelectric power to replace thermal, which was consuming a lot of foreign exchange through oil imports

• presence of narrow gorge (deep narrow valley) for easy construction of the dam
• presence of waterfalls hence the fast flow of water to turn turbines
• presence of hard basement rock which provided a firm foundation for the construction of the dam

• The presence of extensive land behind the hills was due to the sparse population, which could accommodate a large reservoir behind the dam.

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