Ada Sea Defence project to boost tourism

Mr Enoch Teye Mensah, Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing on Thursday expressed optimism that investor confidence in the Dangme East District would shoot up when the Ada Sea Defence Project is completed.

He noted that Ada, the capital city of the District, is endowed with rich tourists' sites that have the potential of fetching the country more money.

Mr Mensah made the observation during a working trip to acquaint himself with progress made so far on the 60-million-Euro Ada Coastal Protection project. He added that the famous Ada salt industry had the huge potential of feeding the petrochemical industries.

Mr Mensah said Government is committed towards completing the entire 15-kilometre stretch of the Sea Defence Project, adding that plans are far advanced for the completion of negotiations on the second and third phases of the project.

Currently, Phase One of the project, which seeks to protect the coastland from further erosion, loss of infrastructure, property, land, potential income and livelihood, is underway and is slated to take off in earnest in July.

The Phase One is expected to complete 4.7 kilometres of the entire 15-kilometre stretch of the project.

Mr Ewan Terblanche, Project Manager of PMI Marine and Construction Services Limited, the project implementing engineers, said the first phase of the project is expected to be completed by December 2013.

He expressed confidence that the project would help boost the eco-tourism potential of Ada.

Mr Terblanche said the company had established a hatchery to protect, monitor and raise three species of turtles found on the coastline.

He expressed optimism that the turtles would rapidly breed to serve as a huge tourist attraction to the array of existing tourism potentials at Ada.

Nene Kabu Akuaku III, Paramount Chief of Ada, expressed gratitude to the Government for initiating the project adding that activities that are on-going at the project site are indication that the Government would see to the completion of the coastline protection project.

The project site is located 100 kilometers East of Accra.

It is estimated that Accra, Ada and other coastal settlements in the country risked being immersed by the ocean over the next few years owing to rising tides caused by climate change.

According to the United Nations Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change, average sea level rose 17 centimetres worldwide in the 20th Century with the estimation that it would advance a further 18 to 60 centimetres by 2100.

Ghana’s low-lying shore makes her particularly vulnerable and already some of the colonial forts along the country’s coastline had been wiped out alongside potential money-fetching tourist sites.