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Payment of compensation to people whose properties were destroyed as a result of the construction of transmission lines for the Bui Power Project started yesterday. Beneficiaries in two out of the 41 communities along the Bui-Kintampo transmission lines received payments yesterday. Even though it was announced that the payments would start on February 17, it started a day later. It is expected that by the end of the exercise, 885 people whose crops, buildings and structures were affected by the construction of the transmission lines would be compensated. Payments are scheduled to be completed next week. Challenges The exercise has been fraught with challenges. Some of the beneficiaries have not been able to provide the required documents that would ensure that they are compensated. The External Relations Manager of the Bui Power Authority, Mr Wumbila Salifu, told the Daily Graphic that �the cheques of some beneficiaries have been withheld since they were unable to provide the right documentation.� He said some of the beneficiaries had either misplaced their form �S� which was given to them during the enumeration or they could not provide a photocopy of their national identification cards. In some cases, Mr Salifu said, other beneficiaries were showing up with national identification cards which bore names that were different from what were provided to the officials of the Land Valuation Division of the Lands Commission during the enumeration exercise. Another challenge, he stated, was that some beneficiaries had passed on �and when that happens, the family members are expected to go to court to obtain letters of administration to enable them to claim the compensation on behalf of the deceased.� The Land Valuation Division of the Lands Commission had earlier inspected, enumerated and valued property which belonged to the beneficiaries in the 41 communities to determine how much each of them should be paid. Background The beneficiaries, whose farms and properties were in the way of the transmission lines which covered a total area of 240 kilometres, will benefit from the GH�2,116,322 released by government. The payment is the second batch of compensation to be paid for the loss of property during the construction of the 400-megawatt hydroelectric power project built on the Black Volta. The first batch of about 580 farmers who were affected by the construction received their compensation in April, 2012. Construction of the Bui hydropower plant began in 2009. The total project cost of US$622 million was financed by the government and from two credits from the China Exim Bank and a commercial loan of US$292 million. It required the resettlement of 1,216 people.