Temperature - European Investment Bank

WEST AFRICAN POWER POOL (WAPP) PÖYRY ENERGY LTD.
Mount Coffee HPP ESIA and RAP 2012-09-18
ESIA Report Page 95
Benben settlement is within Mount Coffee Township, Todee District, Montserrado
County. There is a dirt motor road leading up to the settlement and this is of reasonable
quality. There are 200 persons living in 68 makeshift houses. No drinking water, no
toilet. The main livelihood activities include mining of gold, rubber taping and farming.
The Nyenh clinic serves the settlement and there is a mosque but no church. A
malfunctioning water pump was noted but domestic water is obtained from the creek.
The bush is used as toilet and for depositing waste.
13.3.6 Education, Health, Water and Sanitation, Public Services
To date only big townships like Harrisburg and Arthington have a semblance of social
infrastructure like primary and junior high schools, clinics, etc. The present schools
cover only lower level education and the facilities were heavily affected by the civil
war. Water and sanitation facilities in the schools are not ample, with the water present
in 26% and latrines in only 35% of the schools surveyed on a national scale in 2004,
which implies that education facilities in the project area mirror the same low
proportions for water and sanitation facilities. In addition, school equipment like
chalkboards, textbooks and furniture (desks for students and tables for teachers) are not
sufficient. It is also a problem to get qualified teachers in remote areas.
The 2008 Population and Housing Census found that Careysburg District has 35 schools,
while St. Paul district has 252. Most schools are distanced from the settlements forcing
children to walk long distances to receive education. Illiteracy among the population aged
10 years and over is high in the project area, especially among the women.
The identified settlements do not have health centres as such, but clinics which cater for
primary health care; the clinics are a great walking distance from the rural population’s
homes. The populations in the settlements use the nearest clinics which are normally
found in the townships. All the likely affected settlements use the Raymond Camp
clinic. The health facilities are in a sorry state and need qualified medical personnel.
Markets with solid structures are lacking in the settlements. Existing market stalls or
structures are rudimentary in the settlements that will be affected. The biggest market
serving all the likely affected settlements is in Bensonville.
The Mount Coffee Hydro Electric dam and the White Plains Water Treatment Plan, that
are both in Careysburg District, used to ensure a constant supply of water to
Montserrado County before the war. The present water provision for the settlements in
the project area is mostly from the St. Paul River. No functioning hand pumps have so
far been seen in the settlements that are likely to be affected. Household members fetch
water from the river or nearby creeks for domestic use, some may have open wells.
Services for sanitation and waste disposal are lacking. Most of the settlements dispose
of their garbage in the outskirts of the settlement area or in the bush. Toilets are either
open or covered pit latrines in the districts, but the bush is most commonly used as a
toilet in the project area. The poor sanitation and hygienic situation exacerbates the
health situation. The most common illness among infants whose mortality rates are
high, are malaria, diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections, neonatal tetanus, measles and
malnutrition which are the major causes of morbidity. It is not clear how high a
proportion of adults are infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) but the
latest data show a low percentage for both women and men in the age bracket of 14-49
– 1.8% for women and 1.2% for men.