First Funding for Ghana – Volta River Hydroelectric Project, 1962 NUMBER 060 ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: NOVEMBER 2007 January 2016 The World Bank Group Archives Exhibit Series contains exhibits originally published on the Archives’ external website beginning in 2002. When the Archives’ website was transferred to a new platform in 2015, it was decided that older exhibits would be converted to pdf format and made available as a series on the World Bank’s external database, Documents & Reports. These exhibits, authored by World Bank archivists, highlight key events, personalities, and publications in the history of the World Bank. They also bring attention to some of the more fascinating archival records contained in the Archives’ holdings. To view current exhibits, visit the Exhibits page on the Archives’ website. First Funding for Ghana – Volta River Hydroelectric Project, 1962 Ghana signed IBRD Articles of Agreement on September 20, 1957 and became the 64th member of the Bank. The Bank approved the first finding for Ghana on February 8, 1962 for Volta River Hydroelectric Project (Loan 0310). Testing a transformer at a substation at the An overall view of the pot line at the Volta Volta Aluminum Company Ltd. (VALCO) plant Aluminum Company Ltd. (VALCO) at Tema, at Tema, Ghana, 1968. Ghana, 1968. This project consisted of a dam and power plant at Akosombo, 50 miles above the mouth of the Volta River, a transmission system to supply power to the cities Construction work proceeds Two Ghanaian surveyors Pouring molten aluminum on the dam site, 1963 take a reading at the dam into steel molds at the VOLCA site, 1963 plant at Tema, Ghana, 1968 of Accra and Tema, and a 700 mile transmission network to supply the principal cities, towns, villages and mines of Southern Ghana. The project also included construction of an aluminum smelter nearby to serve as the primary consumer of electricity generated. The Volta River Dam at Akosombo, Ghana, Construction site of the Volta River Dam at 1968 Akosombo, Ghana, 1963 The main dam, of rockfill construction, was to rise 244 feet above river level and 370 above its foundations, with a crest length of over 2,000 feet. It created a reservoir about 300 miles long with a surface area of 3,275 square miles. The dam made available to Ghana the abundant supply of power which was necessary for the economic development of the country. Testing a transformer at a Workmen inside the control The intake structure from substation at the Volta room of the Volta River Dam upstream side at the Volta Aluminum Company Ltd. in Akosombo, Ghana, 1968 River Project, 1965 (VALCO) plant at Tema, Ghana, 1968. A consortium of aluminum companies (VALCO) headed by Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation built a large aluminum smelter to be supplied by power from the Volta River Hydroelectric project under a long-term contract. Since Ghana’s existing level of demand did not warrant such a massive undertaking, the project would not have been feasible unless there was a major industrial consumer to make use of the electrical output. The construction and operation of the project was under the control of the Volta River Authority, an autonomous agency established in 1961 for this specific purpose. Construction site of the Volta River Dam at A group of Ghanaians plying their fishing Akosombo, Ghana, 1963 business at Tema in Ghana with the VALCO alumina storage dome in the background, 1968 In size and scope, the project ranked as one of the largest undertakings of its kind to date. It has also been considered as one of controversial projects, used by the Bank’s critics as evidence of the harmful effects of large dam construction.