GHC1.5m spent on dredging Accra drains

Mayor of Accra, Mohammed Adjei Sowah, has said GHS1.5 million has been spent by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to clear clogged drains in the capital city as part of measures to mitigate flooding during the rainy season.

According to him, although the AMA has mapped up strategies to minimise flooding this year, its efforts will be thwarted if the public continues littering and indiscriminately disposing waste.

In an interview with Class News after a presentation of two heavy-duty refuse dump machines to AMA by VIP Jeoun Company in Accra, Mr Sowah said the public must stop the careless disposal of refuse to complement government’s agenda of making Accra the cleanest city in Africa.

He said: “We’ve spent close to GHS1.5million disilting drains and that’s why you don’t see floods in Accra. It rained just about yesterday or so and you didn’t see flood but I cannot guarantee tomorrow, because, if I continue to desilt and dredge the drains and you also continue to dump the refuse into it, tomorrow when it floods, do not come and blame me.

“That’s why I said that it’s a responsibility of all of us, once we agree to that and we work towards that then it can be assured that we will not have floods in this particular rainy season and we will be working towards making sure that Accra again becomes very clean.”

Mr Sowah expressed the hope that government’s aim of making Accra the cleanest city was achievable.

He stated that: “It is a vision which is achievable; it’s a vision which is doable when collectively we put our heads together. When I assumed office, I came to meet over 42 heaps of refuse in Accra, today, you don’t find the heaps of refuse that you see in Accra but we admit that there are pockets of some refuse that you see occasionally at several places that we are also working towards it. I have also said it several times that it is not an event, it’s a process, we are working towards it, so you judge us by what we’ve done so far and whether we are on course or we are not on course.”