The Head of the Drainage Department at the Ghana Hydrological Authority, Ing. Richard Amekor, says over $6 million is needed to implement a drainage master plan in the country.
If implemented, the Drainage Master Plan include the construction of major storm drain systems, which would help mitigate flooding in the country.
Speaking on JoyFM’s Newsnight on June 13, he said the plan has not been implemented because there aren’t enough resources to undertake the project.
“It is not a drainage master plan that has to end flooding, but it is about implementing what is in the drainage master plan. It will mitigate flooding in the city.
“It all boils down to resources and you know constructing storm drains is very expensive, and places that are supposed to be reserved, people are living in there. So the resources that we have we are not able to construct storm drains to that effect.
“It is quite expensive. We have an estimate for countrywide that is going over $6 million,” he told host Evan Mensah.
Additionally, Ing. Amekor said although the plan has yet to be implemented, people’s attitudes contribute to flooding. He pointed out that many individuals continue to build houses in waterlogged areas.
“It is true, but then some of the places where we have flooding or flooding is occurring it is mostly because of attitudinal issues. People are still filling wetlands all around where water could stay or the flood waters when it over-tops the banks could stay for some time, so when the rain subsides it moves back into the stream, but these are places people are continuously filling.”
“When they do that, what happens is that the water cannot move anywhere than to spread into peoples’ homes,” he said.
Meanwhile, he expressed hope that by September this year, an amount from the $150 million allocated to the Greater Accra Resilience and Integrated Development Project (GARIP) would be released to enable contractors to commence the construction of storm drains.