President John Mahama has raised concerns over possible severe floods in Accra, citing delays in the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) projects.
He has urged authorities to accelerate the works to prevent floods-related disasters before the rainy season begins.
During a tour of major drainage systems and flood-prone areas with the Anti-Flood Taskforce, President Mahama emphasised the need for urgent action to complete the stalled projects.
The GARID project, approved in 2019 under the previous administration of President Akufo-Addo with funding from the World Bank, was intended to improve drainage infrastructure and mitigate flooding in Accra.
The president visited several flood-prone locations, including Achimota, Mallam Junction, Kaneshie First Light, and the Odaw drain at Circle. He was accompanied by members of the Anti-Flood Taskforce, chaired by Deputy Chief of Staff Stanislav Xoese Dogbe.
At Mallam Junction, Mr Dogbe expressed concern over private business Kaitech Motors, which has allegedly filled a Ramsar site and a water retention basin. He warned that such actions could exacerbate flooding in the area.
“So you are selling the Ramsar site to a private company and you are here to feign the fact that the company is filling the drains up and causing problems. We can do all the works that we are currently doing here and if this siltation continues it will cause severe flooding,” Mr Dogbe stated.
President Mahama ordered the company to remove the silt and restore the area to prevent further environmental damage.
“Can you imagine the volume of water that this place alone can hold when it rains? And so if you fill it and you say there should just be a drain passing through, the drain cannot contain that water. Let’s do what we have to do, remove all these, and it should be at the cost of the people who did it. They should take this back where they brought it from,” he instructed.
At Kaneshie First Light, President Mahama urged contractors to speed up drainage works ahead of the rainy season.
The tour concluded at the Odaw drain, where he called on dredging contractors to accelerate their work to reduce flood risks.
“This GARID project for desilting the major drains was given since last year. It is clear that all of them are behind schedule. From what I have seen, these drains are not going to be ready before the rains open up. And if they ain’t, it means that we must expect that there will be severe flooding this season. I would’ve thought that the contractors would take advantage of the dry season and work as quickly as possible so that we would have been ahead with these projects right now, but unfortunately, that hasn’t happened.
“So we just have to caution citizens of Accra that there’s going to be severe flooding because of the delay in this project. But we have to do everything to alleviate the destruction of property and loss of life as much as possible.
“I’ve charged the GARID secretariat, the Hydrology Section, and the Ministry to pay constant attention to ensure that all the projects awarded under GARID to make Accra resilient from flooding are sped up as quickly as possible,” the President stated.
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