Works and Housing rolls out plans to mitigate flooding – Minister
Mr. Samuel Atta Akyea, the Minister of Works and Housing, on Wednesday, announced plans to reduce the incidents of flooding across the country through channel improvement works.
Briefing the media in Accra, about some of those interventions, the Sector Minister said works were underway under the Ministry’s 2018 Flood Relief Works Programme, where contracts have been awarded to contractors for concrete lining of some selected drains.
Additionally, there would be reconstruction of culverts and creation of channels in areas that were not properly defined, especially in flood prone areas ahead of the 2019 raining season.
He added that plans were underway to dredge and desilt choked drains, while channel improvement works have begun on some sections of the Odaw River, which have been the major cause of flooding in some areas in Accra.
Consequently, he said, the Ministry would provide a “temporary fix” to the flooding situation as it worked out plans for a long-term solution.
The Minister cited areas like Agbogba, Achimota, Legon Westlands, Pantang and A-Lang in the Greater Accra Region, while Dichemso, Aboabo and Atonsu in the Ashanti Region and Akatsi in the Volta Region as well as Cape Coast in the Central Region would benefit from the Ministry’s improvement works.
Other drains that have been earmarked for desilting include Haatso, Kwabenya, Kweiman, Oyarifa, North Industrial Area, Osu Castle, Lashibi and Lapaz.
The Minister outlined some main drains and tributaries of the Odaw River that would be desilted such as South Kaneshie, Onyasia, Mukose and Nima.
He said, the Ministry has renewed the dredging contract of Messrs Dredge for two years and would embark on dredging exercise at lower section of the Odaw channel from Caprice to the Outfall Sea Bridge.
He said plans would be made to evacuate and dispose the dredged materials properly to landfill sites in order to prevent them from being washed back to the channel.
“The lower section of the Odaw Channel is the most critical in the flood management of the Odaw River, therefore work is expected to commence immediately ahead of the 2019 rain season,” Mr Atta Akyea pointed out.
He, however, stated that the Ministry has taken other measures to mitigate flood risk, including the construction of detention ponds, flood plain lowering, channel expansion, flood zoning and early warning signals within the Odaw catchment area.
He said some of those measures being considered are the Greater Accra Climate Resilience and the Integrated Development Project (GARID), which is being supported by the World Bank, and expected to come on stream by November 2020.
Source: GNA