Desilting Odaw River - Assemblies must be proactive

The rains have started and as part of measures to avert the perennial flooding that usually hits major parts of Accra, the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development has disbursed GH¢7.16 million to 17 metropolitan and municipal assemblies along the Odaw River to help control floods this year.

The funds, which were provided under the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) Project as part of a $200 million World Bank credit (loan) facility, will support the beneficiary assemblies to improve the operation and maintenance of drainage and solid waste management infrastructure in communities along the Odaw channel for this year’s major rainy season.

The project also aims at providing services and infrastructure in priority flood-prone informal settlements around the Odaw basin.

The Daily Graphic welcomes the move by the government because flooding in the capital city is a major challenge to many businesses and individuals, particularly those along the Odaw River.

It is our expectation that the assemblies will immediately take steps to dredge the river to prevent flooding along its banks and surrounding areas when the rains begin.

Consequently, the paper would also want the assemblies to take proactive steps to ensure that the pollution of the river by squatters along its banks is dealt with.

There is ample evidence to the fact that, the squatters along the banks of the river are the major polluters because they persistently use it as their dumping site.

The Daily Graphic believes that for this problem to be solved once and for all, it will take a deliberate action on the part of the assemblies to deal with the underlying problem which includes preventing squatters on the banks of the river and also ensuring that the channels into the river are embedded with materials that can trap the refuse from afar while allowing only water to enter the river.

We have got to a point where our scarce revenues will have to be used judiciously on projects that have direct impact on poverty alleviation and not actions that are repetitive and only serve as a drain on state coffers.

Our assemblies have become too laid-back under the guise of ‘no money’, forgetting that their actions and inaction are a major contributory factor to some of the major avoidable problems in the city.

We are aware that last year, GH¢3,746,800 was disbursed to the beneficiary assemblies for the same goals.

Under the project, compactor trucks and other waste collection equipment were distributed to the beneficiary metropolitan and municipal assemblies to support their waste management activities.

The Daily Graphic believes that with that kind of support, the assemblies should be able to dredge the river on a regular basis and constantly manage their waste properly to keep the river clean.

In many jurisdictions, such water bodies that run through the capital city are well kept and managed to serve as a source of income through tourism and water transportation.

Ours, unfortunately, has become another dumping site for all manner of refuse and that is a big shame, to say the least.

It is the expectation of the Daily Graphic that the assemblies will begin to act to protect the river to restore its aquatic life and not watch for it to become a dumping site for environmental waste.