Contractor mobilises to start Blekusu Sea Defence project
A Civil engineering company, AMANDI Construction, is rapidly mobilising to Azizadzi to start the second phase of the Blekusu Sea Defence Project.
The project is necessary to protect communities that lie at the shoreline between Adafienu and Azizadzi in the Ketu South Municipality in the Volta Region. They include Adina, Agavedzi, Salakope and Amutinu.
“The contractors have moved to site and are currently setting up their operational base at Azizadzi, ahead of full commencement of the work,” the Volta Regional Minister, James Gunu, told the Daily Graphic in Ho yesterday.
Mr Gunu said with support from the Ghana Exim Bank (Eximbank), the Volta Regional Coordinating Council (VRCC) had provided adequate temporary shelters for residents to relocate to higher grounds for their safety and pave way for uninterrupted construction activities.
“In addition to that, we are looking at a housing project which will serve as a permanent resettlement solution for displaced victims of the tidal waves,” he affirmed.
Mr Gunu gave an assurance that food supplies and access to medical care would continue as the government remained committed to the welfare of the people.
“I wish to, on behalf of the good people of the Volta Region, express my profound gratitude to President John Dramani Mahama for his unwavering commitment to the coastal protection project and for continuously standing with people of the Volta Region,” the minister said.
Cost
When asked about the project’s cost and time frame, Mr Gunu said the Minister of Works and Hosing, Kenneth Gilbert Adjei, would rather have the details.
James Gunu, Volta Regional Minister
When contacted, Mr Adjei said: “We are now doing the documentation and I can give you those details later.”
Meanwhile, the assembly member for Agavedzi, Even Assah, confirmed the presence of the contractors at Azizadzi, saying there was renewed hope among the people.
“I am at the site and I am standing by the site foreman, and I can assure you that the contractors are already here,” he told the Daily Graphic yesterday.
Mr Assah said the presence of the contractors had thrown the sea-ravaged communities into a state of great joy and excitement.
The Member of Parliament for Ketu South, Abla Dzifa Gomashie, appealed to the people to maintain cordial ties with the contractors for the project to progress smoothly.
She said President Mahama would soon visit Ketu South again to cut the sod for the project.
Background
Devastating tidal waves hit the communities of Agavedzi, Salakope and Amutinu in the Ketu South Municipality in March this year, ravaging more than 50 houses which left more than 300 people homeless.
The invading waves also desecrated 63 graves in the communities.
This compelled the regional minister to travel to the affected areas to spend a few nights with the displaced to gather first-hand information on the situation.
Mahama’s pledge
On Independence Day, President Mahama travelled to the ravaged communities and pledged that the government would find a permanent solution to the problem.
The Paramount Chief of Some, Torgbi Adama III, blamed the situation on the failure to continue the project which took off in 2015.
