Volta basin vital for economic development

The Volta Basin with its transboundary river, has become of increasing importance in supporting development in the six riparian countries in West Africa. The Volta basin, with is the ninth largest African river, is shared by six countries in West Africa namely; Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali and Togo. Recognising the importance of coordinated management of shared natural resources, the Heads of State established the Volta Basin Authority (VBA) to promote permanent consultation and sustainable development of water and related resources of the Volta basin for equitable distribution of benefits towards poverty alleviation and better socio-economic integration. In response to that, the Volta River Basin Strategic Action Implementation Project has been launched in Accra to improve the capacity of the VBA for trans-boundary water resources management and address its institutional weaknesses. The three-year project is being co-financed by the World Bank and the Global Environmental Facility (GEF). Dr Charles A. Biney, the Acting Executive Director of VBA, speaking to the Ghana News Agency after the launch, said the legal and institutional arrangements among the riparian countries for managing the water resources of the Volta basin were formally established in January, 2007 with the signing of the Convention on Status of the Volta River and Establishment of the VBA. The Convention came into force in August 2009 with its ratification by four out of the six riparian countries. By 2012, all six countries had ratified the Convention, which was mandated to promote permanent consultation tools among the parties for the development of the basin and to develop joint projects and works. He said they were to promote implementation of integrated water resources management and the equitable distribution of the benefits resulting from their various utilisation, authorise the development of infrastructure and projects planned by the stakeholders and which could have substantial impact on the water resources of the basin. The VBA contributes to poverty alleviation, the sustainable development of the Parties in the Volta basin, and for better socio-economic integration in the sub-region, he said. Dr Biney said the riparian countries were developing countries whose economies were currently growing appreciably, between four and six per cent, which will catapult them into lower-income status in the near future. “The Volta basin will continue to be a key factor in this process of improving livelihoods as it plays an important role in the socio-economic development of these riparian countries,” he added. It stretches from north to south over a distance of 1850 kilometres with a basin covering an area of approximate 400,000 kilometres squares with a population of about 20 million depending on the river for domestic water supply, electricity production, irrigation, fishery, navigation and tourism.