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The Upper East Regional, Mr Mark Owen Woyongo has disclosed that the Government of Ghana has put in place arrangements for the construction of a multi-purpose dam on the White Volta at Pwalugu in the Upper East region. Estimated to be completed in 2019, the dam would generate electricity and irrigate over 100,000 hectares of land to the benefit of people in the Upper East and Northern Regions of the country. Mr Woyongo who disclosed this at the second general assembly meeting of the White Volta basin Transboundary Committee on Water Resources Management [WVBTCWRM] at Tenkodogo in Burkina Faso, noted that the timely execution of the multipurpose dam project will also curtail the periodic devastation caused to the regions in the north as a result of the spillage of the Bagre Dam. Water transport and fishing activities are also expected to improve. According to Mr Woyongo, the collaboration amongst these poverty endemic regions regarding the White Volta water resources will help to accelerate the socio-economic development of member countries. The meeting convened by the Transboundary Committee for the Management of Water Resources of the White Volta Sub-basin [CTGEN] has been receiving financial assistance from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature [ICUN]. It was attended by a delegation from Ghana led by the Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Woyongo, the Bawku MCE, Mr Musah Abdulai, Garu-Tempane DCE, Mr. David Adakurugu, staff from Water Resources Commission among others. Togo, the newly admitted country to the CTGEN board had its delegation led by Mr.Ali Seyidu Mossiyamba while the Central East Governor of Burkina Faso, Mr Allahidi Diallo led that of his country. The transboundary committee came into force after the Governor of the Central East Region of Burkina Faso and the Upper East Regional Minister of Ghana signed a Collaboration Agreement in Ouagadougou on 20th June, 2008 to formalise the mechanisms for Transboundary collaboration at the local level. At the end of the two-day long general assembly deliberations, a communiqu� was issued calling for the development of partnerships with institutions in member countries working in the area of reforestation such as SADA and the Asongtaba Cottage Industries [of rlG] in Ghana, a change in the membership of CTGEN in terms of number and quality by adding one Second Vice-President and one Vice Secretary General. The communiqu� further asked for a review of CTGEN�s texts and regulations by a working group put in place and made up of two representatives per country in order to integrate Togo in the consultation framework for issues pertaining to natural resource management in the Nakanbe and Oti sub-basins. In addition, each of the three countries is required to develop an operational plan for political authorities in order to capitalise the achievements of PAGEV � an intervention project in water resource management, advocate with partners working in the area of environmental conservation and above all, improve information sharing among the three countries on lessons learnt and best practices as regards water resource management. Before his return to Ghana, the Upper East Regional Minister and his delegation was taken on tour of some aqua culture sites and the Bagre hydroelectric dam which has since started spilling excess water on 24th August, 2012 to save the dam from wreckage. The spilled water is expected to flow into the White Volta at Pwalugu by the early hours of Sunday, August 26, 2012.