Non-Inundation of Cote d’ Ivoire

The proposed scheme for the development of a hydroelectric facility at the Bui Gorge has seen some changes over the years. The first notable scheme was proposed by J.K Zhuk Hydro Projectk of USSR in 1966. In 1976, Snowy Mountain Engineering Corporation (SMEC), of Australia, conducted another study on the feasibility of developing the Bui dam. In 1995, Conye et Bellier (COB), of France, conducted yet another feasibility study on the Bui Dam and finally update this report in October 2006.

The development scheme proposed by SMEC in their feasibility report of 1976 was to create a reservoir with a Full Supply Level (FSL) of 198m by building one earth fill main dam and five other saddle dams. This arrangement would have resulted in the flooding of an estimated land area of 2,070ha inside Ivory Coast; specifically areas along the Fanko and Korodio Rivers where some 250ha would have been flooded and some 1,820ha of land along the Black Volta.

The scheme considered by the feasibility study of 1995 and the 2006 update by included a reduction in the FSL from the initial 198m proposed by SMEC to 183m. It was on this basis that the technical feasibility and economic viability of the ongoing Bui Project was established.

A direct effect of the proposed reduction of the FSL from 198m to 183m was to ensure that the extents of reservoir created after the impoundment of the Black Volta will be contained solely in Ghanaian territory. The ongoing project therefore will not result in the inundation of any part of the territory neighboring Cote D’Ivoire.