Minister for Works and Housing Mr. Francis Asenso-Boakye has cautioned residents in the cities across the country to desist from throwing solid waste into drainage channels as the nation braces itself for this year’s rainy season.
“Citizens have to be more circumspect in managing household solid waste and desist from using drainage channels as rubbish dumps”, Mr. Asenso-Boakye who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bantama cautioned.
He gave the warning in Accra yesterday when he addressed the journalists on issues relating to flooding as country prepares for the rainy season.
Mr. Asenso-Boakye noted that despite the successes chalked in the country’s flood management programme, some unscrupulous people continue to dump refuse into pathways of drainage buffers.
This, he decries, undermines government’s efforts to mitigate flood risk in communities.
Mr. Asenso-Boakye pointed out that the safety of communities especially those in flood-prone areas should be a shared responsibility.
“It is incumbent on citizens to support government’s efforts by desisting from indiscriminate disposal of solid waste into drainage channels to reduce their capacity to hold storm water”, the minister reiterated.
He has accordingly called on chiefs, community leaders, civil society groups and the media to support government’s efforts in controlling floods. “We can all do so by highlighting incidents of construction in waterways so appropriate state authorities could act promptly while educating the public on dangers of building in waterways and improper disposal of solid waste”, he urged.
FEWS For Flood-Risk Communities
Mr. Asenso-Boakye has disclosed that people living in flood-prone communities will have the benefit of advance notice of flooding in order to take steps and protect their lives and property.
According to him, the design of the Flood Early Warning System (FEWS) is completed and it is expected that the processes leading to the engagement of a service provider will be finalised for the system to be deployed.
Mr. Asenso-Boakye indicated that the deployment of the FEWS is part of Government’s comprehensive programme to tackle flooding in vulnerable communities under the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) Project.
The $200m project, which is being undertaken in collaboration with the World Bank, has seen government made significant progress in the implementation of projects meant to mitigate flood risk and solid waste management challenges in the Greater Accra Region.
The Minister stated that projects such as performance-based dredging of the Odaw River, drainage improvements works at Achimota, Nima and Kaneshie are about to commence following the completion of all the needed procurement processes.
“It is expected that construction of these drainage improvement works will commence in the next few months,” Mr. Asenso-Boakye added.
Whilst highlighting the progress that has been made, the Minister acknowledged the need to improve drainage infrastructure in many other communities.
Government, he pledged, will invest resources in demonstration of its commitment to tackling Ghana’s perennial flooding challenge.
