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Ghana's Hi-Limit Group has achieved a significant milestone on the One-Village-One-Dam Integrated Agriculture with Renewable Energy for Poverty Eradication (IAREPE) project, according to a report by Ghana News Agency (GNA).

The firm has signed an agreement with Power China NWE Corporation to develop the renewable energy component of the scheme, which focuses on rain-starved agricultural areas in the north of the country.

GNA reports that the deal will enable the project to receive financing of US$6.3 billion over three years from Chinese development banks. Citing a statement from Hi-Limit Group, it added that this brings to a close the signing of agreements for all of the project’s components.

The One-Village-One-Dam IAREPE scheme targets the construction of 440 multi-purpose dams across 44 select districts in the five northern regions, with each district having 10 dams. 

The project is expected to take three years to complete. EPC contracts have been signed with two Chinese state-owned contractors: Zhongmei Engineering Group will build 220 dams, while Shandong Hi-Speed Deijan Group will build the remaining 220.

In an early August interview with local media, Emmanuel Larbi, president and CEO of Hi-Limit Group said, “The financing is being carried out by Hi-Limit and its financial partners; we are doing 15% crowdfunding through corporate bonds from South Africa and then 85% from Chinese development banks.” 

Larbi added that Hi-Limit Group had entered into a public-private partnership with the government for the project, whose role is facilitation, monitoring and evaluation.

The CEO explained that it will cost US$4 million to build each dam with ancillaries including an 80-hectare centre-pivot irrigation system and a power system. As well as driving the irrigation system, the electricity will be supplied to surrounding communities as part of Ghana's rural electrification drive. 

“The whole idea of the One-Village-One-Dam project was all-year-round farming and a steady water supply for cattle,” said Larbi. “So Hi-Limit has decided to build a dairy farm [with each dam] and use the waste to produce electricity through biogas. Each dam site will have 1MW of power capacity.” 

There will also be a refining unit built for crop processing. The dams will also be used for aquaculture, according to Larbi.

In December 2021, GNA reported that South African investment bank CapitalWeb Partners had raised US$350 million for the Hi-Limit project, and additional fundraising continued for up to US$850 million. It said the funds would be administered by Societe General Bank Ghana and the project supervised by French certification firm Bureau Veritas.

The One-Village-One-Dam IAREPE project is separate to Ghana's other One-Village-One-Dam project, which is government led and entails digging small earth dams across the northern region for livestock watering and irrigation. As of mid-2022, more than 560 small earth dams had been completed.

Photo: Farming in Ghana (© Atm2003 | Dreamstime)