Bui Power Authority cultivates 1,400 acres of tree seedlings since 2021 – CEO

The Bui Power Authority (BPA), the managers of the Bui Generating Station (BGS) has cultivated and nurtured 1,400 acres of trees since the government's Green Ghana Initiatives was launched in 2021.Mr Samuel Kofi Ahiave Dzamesi, the Chief Executive Officer has said.He said the authority had contracted and some of the BGS's Project Affected Persons (PAPs) were nurturing the trees, which were all doing well.Mr Dzamesi said this in a speech read on his behalf by Mr Samuel Nimako-Boateng, the Director, Power Operations Department, BPA, during a tree planting exercise organised by the authority at Bui in the Banda District of the Bono Region to mark this year's Green Ghana Day.Personnel of the BPA and the Ghana Armed Forces deployed to protect the Dam participated in the tree planting exercise.Mr Dzamesi said the Authority would plant 16,000 tree seedlings around the dam's enclave this year, saying it cultivated and nurtured 11,813 different species of trees in 2023.Additionally, he explained the Board of Directors of the Authority had approved a policy on the conservation and protection of 26 different economic indigenous and domesticated tree species at the dam site.Currently, the authority is tagging the identified tree species for easy identification, Mr Dzamesi stated, saying with assistance from the Wildlife Division (Bui National Park) of the Forestry Commission, the authority was sensitizing local communities on the need to preserve the trees.He expressed worry that impacts of climate change were being felt and underlined the need for the BPA to complement efforts towards global fight against the adverse effects and mitigating the impact of climate change in the country.Climate change, he added, was contributing to erratic rainfall patterns, rising temperatures, food insecurity and increasing poverty levels.Mr Dzamesi said a strong political will with an increased investment response 'by the Emergency Response Team attributable to our collective efforts for the acquisition and deployment of additional two State-of-the-art multi-purpose fire tenders in operations at the BGS here'.'Aside protecting our installations and our forest, cashew farms within the catchment area were protected thereby enhancing biodiversity conservation', he stated.Mr Chrisentus Kuunifaa, the Director, Occupational Health, Safety, Security and Environment of the BPA, stressed the authority's commitment tree plantation was preserved for the nation to derive the optimum benefitSource: Ghana News Agency