prepared by grade 8A students of BSS Middle Branch North Nazimabad

1. Akosombo
Dam

2. General Information
• The Akosombo Dam (also referred to as the
Akosombo Hydroelectric Project), is a
hydroelectric dam on the Volta River in
southeastern Ghana in the Akosombo gorge
and part of the Volta River Authority. The
construction of the dam flooded part of the
Volta River Basin, and the later creation of
Lake Volta. Lake Volta is the world's largest
man-made lake, covering 8,502 square
kilometers (3,283 sq mi), which is 3.6% of
Ghana's land area

3. Story Behind The Dam
• Ghana wanted hydroelectricity.
• Ghana took loans from the World Bank and
USA to build it.
• A part of this deal was that USA would
produce aluminum using the electricity that
the dam produced

4. Evacuation
• Over 80 000 people had moved from their
farms and villages to make way for the
Akosombo Dam. It created a giant lake,
drowning 4% of Ghana’s land.

5. Problems
• After 35 years Valco was still importing alumina
from Jamaica and using Ghana’s bauxite.
• Valco was paying almost half the bills other
factories were paying.
• It did not pay tax on the alumina it imported or
the aluminum it exported.
• Ghana had to export cheap bauxite instead of
expensive aluminum.
• No one payed attention to Lake Volta