Govt builds new drains against rainy season - Housing Minister discloses

The government is working on some flood adaptation projects in flood-prone areas in Accra to mitigate the impact of this year’s rainfall season.

The projects include the construction of storm drains at Alogboshie, Akweteyman, a section of Nima, Kasoa Iron City and Weija Old Barrier.

The Minister of Works and Housing, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, disclosed this when he embarked on an inspection tour of the areas last Saturday to ascertain the level of completion of some of the projects.

The minister and a team from the Ghana Hydrological Authority visited the Odaw River, as well as the ongoing project at Alogboshie, Kasoa Iron City and Weija Old Barrier.

He said under the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) Project, work was set to begin for the construction of two major storm drains from Paloma to Circle and from Accra Academy Senior High School to the Odaw River.

A dredging company, Dredge Masters, had also been contracted by the government to desilt the Odaw River to minimise any dangers of possible flooding.

Excitement

Mr Oppong Nkrumah expressed excitement with the progress of work, while urging the contractors to increase the speed to ensure that they were completed before the rains season commenced.

For the ones which could not be completed before the season began, he urged the contractors to find other innovative means to remove or reduce any flood risks in the area.

Currently, he said, there was a challenge in Parliament on the approval of a $150 million World Bank facility loan to fund the GARID Project.

He, however, assured the contractors that the ministry was going to try every possible means to ensure that they were paid on time.

Compensation

Mr Oppong Nkrumah also urged the contractors to make sure that all the project-affected persons received the relevant compensation and were duly engaged to understand the importance of the project.

“We must make sure the local communities take ownership of the project to ensure that after completion, they can protect the drains and also prevent them from getting choked,” he said.

He also urged the Ghana Hydrological Authority to sign agreements with the local assemblies after completion so that they would be responsible for ensuring the regular clearing of the drains.

The Project Coordinator for the GARID Project, Dr Ohene Sarfo, while briefing the minister, said aside from the construction of the storm drains, the project was also looking at desilting choked gutters to ensure easy flow of water during the rainy season.

He observed that one major contribution to the flooding situation in Accra was the way people dumped waste.

He said another intervention was infrastructural upgrading in selected communities where contractors were working on improving some of the storm drains as well as improving the access roads within the areas.