News
Lake
Volta
Master
Plan:
Regional
Development
Plan
approval
SMEC recently met with the Lake Volta Steering Committee to present the draft Regional Development Plan which included concept options for the proposed masterplan development.

The Steering Committee comprised a cross-section of the Volta River Authority Development Committee and selected Heads of the various government ministries.

 

Following the steering committee presentation, SMEC received approval to proceed to the next stage of the project. Having agreed the vision and growth direction for Volta Lake Districts, SMEC will now proceed with the task of translating the regional strategy into local sectoral plans.

 

As part of the recent phase of work, the team undertook several studies to consider economic positioning and demographic forecasting. The resulting analysis was used to test different concept options and development scenarios to inform the Regional Development Plan.

There were fruitful discussions from which the committee expressed great satisfaction with the framework that has been developed by SMEC and our colleagues at Surbana Jurong. The collaboration between SMEC International, SMEC South Africa, and the SJ Master Planning team has worked tremendously, and we’re excited to enter this next phase of the project.
— Paulo Trindade, Project Leader

Lake Volta has a surface area of 8,502 square kilometers. Its surface area is the largest of any artificial reservoir in the world.  It is contained behind the Akosombo Dam which generates a substantial amount of Ghana’s electricity and is managed by the Volta River Authority (VRA).

Lake Volta is also used for fisheries, irrigation, water transport, lake tourism, and other forest resources. The key objectives of the masterplan will cover urban development, infrastructure, local commerce, tourism, transport, agriculture, and ecology.

The project will now enter stage four to facilitate local area planning across 40 local districts.  The project is anticipated to conclude in January 2024.