Odaw drainage project completed

WORK on the ?25 billion Odaw River drainage channel project has been completed three months ahead of schedule.

The project which commenced in January, 2001, was expected to be completed next month.

It was funded by the World Bank and entailed concrete lining of the drain, concrete walling, three-metre walkway on the sides of the channels and a 4,000 metre concrete pipe with a diameter of 1,500 to carry waste water from industries into the drain.

The other aspect of it, the Korle-Lagoon Ecological Project, which is being undertaken by TAYSEC Construction Limited, is yet to be completed.

If completed, the perennial flooding of Accra is expected to come to an end.

Speaking in an interview in Accra yesterday, Mr Jiang Shouguo, Project Manager of China International Water and Electric Corporation,the executors of the project said the early completion was due to the additional machines brought in from China to speed up work.

He said the drains have the capacity of containing flood water for 25 years.

Mr Shougou announced that additional variation works on the project have been awarded to the company.

He explained that these include the construction of small drains and bridges at vantage points on the drainage to serve as channels for disposal of chemical waste from industries into the Odaw drain.

Mr Shougou said so far, work has begun on about 120 small drains, adding that they are designed to cater for any future developmental projects along the banks of the Odaw River.