Accra floods to ease – Engineers to Akufo-Addo

President Akufo-Addo has inspected two major projects ongoing in Accra aimed at finding a lasting solution to the perennial flooding in Accra.

The two projects the president inspected were the Accra Sanitary Sewer and Storm Water Drainage Alleviation Project at Circle and the Drainage Construction at Kaneshie 1st Light Intersection.

In June 2016, a two-year contract was awarded to Dredge Masters Limited for the desilting and dredging of the Odaw channel and restoration of the Korle Lagoon to avert the perennial flooding in Accra. The scope of works also includes the redesign and construction of the KLERP interceptor and breakwater at the outfall.

The channel under the scope starts from the Odaw Onyasia confluence at Caprice in Accra, through Avenor, Kwame Nkrumah Interchange, and the Agbogbloshie-South Kaneshie drain (the Upper and Lower Lagoon). Dredging and haulage operations in the Odaw channel and Korle Lagoon started in April 2019.

Prior to the commencement of dredging operations, encroachers and squatters along the drains were removed with assistance from the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and the Ghana Police Service. Dredge Masters Limited is working round the clock, day and night operations, to restore the drainage efficiency and holding capacity of the channel and lagoon to avert any flooding in this year’s rainy season.

Briefing the President during his stopover, the Supervising Engineer for the project, Wise Ameterpey, explained that the project, when completed, will arrest the flooding situation that has affected the Circle area and its environs during the raining season. He called on the inhabitants of the area to desist from throwing plastic waste into the Odaw River after the dredging work is executed as that it is the only way to safeguard the water body.

At the site of the drainage construction at the Kaneshie 1st Light Intersection, George Asiedu, the Supervising Engineer, told President Akufo-Addo, that the project which will see the construction of a 630 metre storm drain, by its very nature, will make the acute flooding that the Obetsebi Lamptey Circle, the Kaneshie Market and the Kaneshie 1st Light area, a thing of the past. He further indicated that the project is already yielding the projected results because with the heavy downpour yesterday, the 20th of May, 2019, the area did not experience the usual flooding that has become a regular feature over the years.

In his answer to an inquiry by the President on when the project is expected to be completed, the Supervising Engineer said that as a result of some difficulties with a pipeline of the Ghana Water Company, the deadline of 15th April 2019 was missed. He, however, indicated that by the middle of June 2019, the project will be fully completed.