FG Committed To Harnessing Dams Hydro-Power – Director

The Federal Government is fully committed to harnessing the hydropower potential of the various dams in the country, says  a Director in Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Dr Emmanuel Adanu.

Adanu, who is in charge of Dams and Reservoir Operations, gave the assurance on in Abuja in an interview with newsmen.

He said that the ministry was collaborating with the Ministry of Power and state governments to ensure that dams with the potential to generate electricity were properly utilised.

He reiterated the importance of dams in actualising the Agricultural Transformation Action Plan of the President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, saying, “we (ministry of Water Resources) have given up to 17 names of dams across the country to the Ministry of Power and they  are working hard to make sure that the hydro-power potential of these dams are harnessed.

“It is gradually becoming a policy here in the ministry that any dam we are going to construct that has the potential to generate any amount of hydro-electricity, we will start that component immediately.’’

Adanu listed some of the dams in the country with the potential to generate electricity to include Tiga-Chalawa Dam in Kano State, Goronyo Dam in Sokoto state, Gurara Dam in Kaduna state, Bakolori Dam in Zamfara.

The director told journarlists that the Gurara Dam had the capacity to generate 30 megawatts of electricity to Kaduna State and parts of the FCT, adding, “work on the hydropower transmission project at the dam is in “top gear”.

He said that the Federal Government was concerned and anxious that work on the Gurara Dam project was completed on schedule.

He said government was also making efforts to ensure that funds for dam projects were provided, pointing out that the Ministries of Water Resources and Agriculture would synergise to boost irrigation projects in the over 200 dams across the country to promote agricultural activities.

“Almost all our dams have the potential for irrigation, he stressed and expressed confidence that allocations in the 2012 budget would “speed up’’ progress of work on all the dam projects across the country.