A Study On The Ghana's Volta River Project Under The International Programme History:1915-1966

The Volta Project is an influential international programme of Africa in 1960 s,which development history is long and complicated.The concept Volta River Project was presented by Albert Kitson in 1915,which attracted many private enterprises to participate,among them,the West Africa Aluminum comany,which was led by a South Africa engineer Duncan Rose,was pioneer.Meanwhile,this project raised the attention from the Great British and Gold Coast colonial government which pushed the initial development of the Volta River Project.In 1953,the Gold Coast colonial government investigated the Volta River basin region comprehensively by establishing the Volta Preparatory Commission,of which Robert Jackson was the chairman.This Commission published a detailed report in 1956,which promoted the maturity of the Volta Programme.However,as the failure of the Four Sides Talking and the acceleration of Ghana's independence,the Volta Project was postponed.After the Ghana achieved independence in 1957,the Nkrumah's administration began promoting the project by using the contradiction and the conflict between the Soviet Union and the America in the third world,which also made the Volta River Project become the game stage of the America,the British and the Soviet Union.In consideration of politics,the Kennedy government finally decided to provide assists to the Volta River Project.The assist contact between America and Ghana was signed in January,1962,and then the Volta River Project entered the construction phases.Four years later,the Volta Project was completed in January,1966.The Volta River Project is not only a commercial programme,which political significance is far more than the economic significance.In another word,the Volta River Project is the highly politicized project.Because of the specificity and the complexity,the success of the Volta River Project aroused extensive controversies.From the perspective of the project and long-term interests,the conclusion of this dissertation is that the Volta River Project is successful absolutely,which was testified by the current economic benefit.But if we focus on the original intention,the Kaiser Company is the biggest winner rather than the Nkrumah's government or Kennedy's government.I hope this dissertation could provide suggestions or references for the Sino-African cooperation in large-scale international projects.