The Bui Power Authority (BPA), the Managers of the Bui Hydroelectric Dam at Bui in the Banda District of Bono Region has presented ‘Samaritan boxes’ to the 189 households affected by the construction of the 400-megawatt dam.

Each household received five boxes, which contained educational materials comprising pens, pencils, erasers and mathematical sets, as well as pairs of footwear, school bags and other recreational items to be distributed to pupils and students.

Beneficiaries were from Bui, Dokokyina and Bator Akanyakrom, the three major communities, which were directly or indirectly affected by the dam, and had since been resettled.

Mr. Fred Oware, the Chief Executive Officer of the BPA said the Authority was determined to ensure that people in the resettlement communities around the dam lived better lives.

He said his outfit had already supported the people to go into alternative livelihood programmes to improve on their standard of living, adding that, the BPA had also constructed 10 fish ponds in the communities.

Currently, Mr. Oware said the Authority was undertaking irrigation projects in the resettlement areas to make life comfortable for the people and assured them that the BPA would continue to support and alleviate their plight.

Nana Kwadwo Wuo I, the Chief of Bui, expressed gratitude to the BPA for their assistance to the communities, but said because of population growth, many of the youth in the area were unemployed and needed some skills training to aid self-employment.

The chief said the people were unhappy that the government had not yet paid land compensation to the people whose lands were affected and appealed to the BPA to facilitate the payments.