Appraisal of The Environmental Impact Assessment For The Expansion of Ghana’s T3 Thermal Plant: Implications For Tourism Development

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to appraise the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) undertaken to expand Ghana’s T3 Thermal Power Plant, located at Aboadze in the Western Region and also examine implications of the expansion of the thermal plant on tourism development in the study area. Content analysis of the EIA document was supplemented with an interview of ten key informants in two communities near the plant, selected using purposive sampling for the study. In addition some tools of assessment: vulnerability, land-use and suitability, cost benefit, multi criteria and sustainability analyses, were used to appraise some aspects of the EIA prepared. The study revealed that although Ghana has a good legal and administrative framework for EIA preparation, public participation in the EIA process was limited.  Also, sustainability of the project was not considered as alternatives to fossil fuels to be used, were not proposed.  The EIA for the project expansion was comprehensive enough as it covered among others; noise pollution, the nature of the coastal environment as well as the aesthetic and tourism appeals of the study area. A positive implication of the project’s expansion is the continuous addition of 132MW of electric power to help eliminate dumsor, which affects tourism and hospitality facilities in the country.