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Minister for Works and Housing, Mr. Francis Asenso Boakye, has warned that the flooding in the Greater Accra Region alone is set to cost the state about US$ 13 billion dollars in the next 20 years if urgent actions are not instituted to curb the situation.
According to him, currently, US$3.2 billion (4.45% of GDP) worth of economic assets are at risk of flooding in the capital region alone and indicated that figure is expected to quadruple by 2050.
Ghana, he said, has meanwhile been ranked among the top African countries exposed to risks from multiple weather-related hazards.
He stated that perennial flooding across the country also poses a significant threat to the government’s accelerated socio-economic development agenda.
Mr. Asenso-Boakye disclosed these in the annual report of the Ministry of Works and Housing that he presented to Parliament on Thursday 1st July 2021, highlighting measures the government is pursuing to address the increasing risk of flooding across the country.
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He stated that lives have been lost, properties destroyed, people displaced, transport links disconnected, economic activities disrupted and livelihoods uprooted because of flooding.
According to him, the causes of flooding in the country are multi-faceted that include inefficient drains, undersized culverts and uncontrolled development in flood plains, wetlands and waterways.
He said, “Additionally, indiscriminate dumping of solid waste into our drains by households contribute significantly to urban flooding.”
“Across the country, we see new developments and buildings springing up in waterways and flood plains (buffer zones) blocking the flow of stormwater and worsening the risk of flooding.”
“The devastating flood event in the Odaw Drainage Catchment on 3rd June 2015 led to an unfortunate loss of about 150 lives and about 50,000 people were directly affected to varying degrees,” he added.
He stated that several places across the country since the beginning of this year have experienced severe and devastating flooding including a number of areas in Kumasi where several shops and homes were flooded and goods worth millions of cedis were destroyed.
Similar reports, he said, have also been received from Koforidua and Takoradi and many other parts of the country and stressed that the increased risk of flooding associated with climate change is clear and the state needs to take bold steps to tackle this challenge holistically.
Mr. Asenso-Boakye disclosed that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, since taking office in 2017, has incested about GH¢450 million in the national flood control and priority drainage programme compared to GH₵88 million invested by the previous Mahama government between 2011 and 2016.
“Clearly, this level of commitment to tackling the problem which has resulted in a reduction of flooding incidents in the past few years is unprecedented and commendable,” he said.
The government, he said, is currently collaborating with the World Bank to invest more than US$200 million to address solid waste and flood risk challenges in the Odaw Drainage Basin and disclosed that the project will also see the development and implementation of a Flood Early Warning System to enhance community safety and resilience.
The Akufo-Addo government, he said, is also making every effort to ensure flood risk is minimized but stressed the government cannot do it alone because flood management is a shared responsibility.
“It is incumbent on every citizen to complement the effort of government, take their own safety seriously and be more mindful of the manner in which solid waste is disposed of.”
He appealed to individual homebuilders to avoid paving all of their compounds and make room for stormwater infiltration by introducing vegetation called on MMDAs to strictly enforce planning laws and Building Codes to prevent development in waterways, floodplains and wetlands.
Frontpageghana.com/Ghana
