Compensation payment to farmers begins tomorrow

Wednesday, July 4, 2012 The Ghana National Gas Company (GNGC) Limited is expected to begin the payment of GH57.631 tomorrow as compensation to farmers who lost their crops during boundary demarcation and topographic survey for a gas infrastructure project at Domunli in the Jomoro District in the Western Region. About 166 farms were affected during the boundary demarcation exercise for the gas project, which is estimated to cost $850 million. In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra Yesterday, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the GNGC, Dr Gerorge Dip-Adjah Yankey, said the crops lost during the demarcation exercise included cassava, coconut, oil palm and mango. He said the assessment was based solely on the number of farms lost, not on the number of farmers who lost their farms. For instance, it was found that some farmers owned more than a farm and for that reason it was more prudent to access the damage based on farmlands, not on individual farmers. He said the boundary demarcation was conducted by Rudan Engineering Limited, a licensed surveying company in Ghana, while the Western Regional Site Advisory Committee approved of the site plan for the gas infrastructure project on January 18, 2012. Dr Yankey further explained that the Land Commission carried out a crop enumeration and evaluation exercise and subsequently issued standard forms bearing names, passport photographs, geographic locations and technical descriptions of affected property of affected farmers. The CEO said the Land Valuation Division of the Lands Commission submitted a report on the project to the GNGC on May 8, 2012 for action. According to him, the GNGC was partnering with the Half-Assini branch of the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) for the issuance of bank payment orders, adding that cash payments were being discouraged for security reasons. He said farmers would be fully compensated for economic crops lost when the NGC started the LPG Tank Farm Project.