Government to expand Odaw drains

Government is expected to expand the Odaw drains following recent spate of flooding in most parts of the capital after rains.

Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, (MWRWH) Sampson Ahi, has assured that the incidence of flooding in Accra will be a thing of the past after the completion of the drain expansion project.

Flooding has been an annual ritual in the capital. Last year, it caused the death of 150 people after severe floods triggered a fuel station explosion.

But Mr Ahi is optimistic the expansion works on the Odaw River will permanently ensure such flooding does not recur.

“We [MWRWH] met with the select committee on works and housing …they wanted to find out programmes that the ministry has put in place to avert floods in Accra and Tema, particularly, and, so, we also laid out our programmes and activities we have undertaken since June 3 last year, and, so, we showed pictures to them that we have dredged, we have desilted the Odaw and some parts of the Sakumono drainage in Accra and Tema.”

“But for these activities, maybe the flood would have been unbearable and so currently we have an arrangement with Dredge Masters to do effective work so they are on site as we speak.

“We made it clear to them that some of these drains … along the Odaw were constructed 60 years ago and so because of human activities, the gutters have become narrow now and so they are unable to accommodate volumes of inflows into the sea and so after dredging it, what we are seeking to do is to expand and then deepen the gutters and so that is what Dredge Masters are going to do.

“…We know the problems, we are working to expand the gutters, deepen it so that they can accommodate whatever volumes that come into them.”