True, this sum was to cover the cost of the dam and power installation (at Ajena), the opening up and equipping of the bauxite mines and a complete plant for producing aluminum from bauxite to be sited at Kpong. The scheme, in other words, was fully comprehensive as it stood then. But it was also enormously costly with the result that very extensive participation from outside sources was essential. So it was that for the next few months, the Government, in addition to an ambitious development program in agriculture, education, health and so on, occupied itself with seeking the necessary outside help. For instance, by the time full Independence was achieved on 6th March 1957, extensive meetings had already been held between the government, the United Kingdom Government and two aluminum companies which had originally declared themselves to be interested. Those series of meetings, however, reached no firm conclusion. Indeed, as time and the discussions went on, the chances of a successful outcome seemed more and more remote. For one thing, this was a period of financial stringency when interest rates on loans and lengths of loan
repayments became less favorable. In addition, the world demand for aluminum was temporally out-stripped by production capacity, and finally,
over and above all this, the attitude of other Governments, which might be interested in participation, was that Ghana should first come to satisfactory arrangement with the aluminum companies. The aluminum companies on the other hand, wanted to be assured of certain factors in advance ? for example, the cost of power. But the cost of power. In turn, depend on the conditions on which other Governments might lend Ghana money. If ever there were an example of a vicious circle, this was one and to break it Dr. Nkrumah took the opportunity to an official visit to the United States in July 1958 to raise the problem with President Eisenhower. As a result of their talk, a U.S. firm of consulting engineers, the Henry J. Kaiser Company, was retained by the Ghana and U.S. Governments to make a reassessment of the engineering aspect of the project and the costs. Some seven months later, in March 1959, Kaiser reported. They recommended that Akosombo gorge, originally pinpointed by Kitson, provided and added that there was the possibility of smaller hydro-electric projects at Kpong and Bui which could follow as and when the need arose. They recommended that the aluminum smelter should be built at Tema where the new town and harbor were now rising fast, rather than at Kpong as originally proposed and they urged that alumna should be imported until revenue from the industry made it possible to mine and refine the local bauxite into alumna. Finally, though the smelter would be the all-important main user of electricity from the power station, Kaiser suggested that a 500-mile network of transmission lines should be installed, covering the whole of southern Ghana. The new proposals represented, of course, a drastic pruning back on the original concept, especially in relations to the mining and refining into alumna of the local bauxite. But it had important advantages to offset this. For instance, the cost of the Akosombo Dam, generating station, and township were now estimated to be ?102.5 million (? 42.7 million), compared with an original estimate of 162.25 Million Cedis(?67.6 million) while the potential power out has been raised from 564 MW to 768 MW, or about 22 times the 1959 power generating capacity of the country. Ghana, in short stood to gain more power for less capital; outlay ? always a satisfactory state of affairs. In addition certain other technical changes had been made with the net result that the total estimated cost had been reduced by more than 40 per cent to 313.7 million cedis (?130.7 million).

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