Flood control to cost GH¢200m

THE Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing has drawn up a programme under which all buildings within and around water courses in the country will be demolished and their owners compensated.
The Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Alhaji Boniface Abubakar Saddique, who disclosed this, said the programme had been dubbed, “Master Drain Plan”, adding that the effort to solve the problem of flooding during heavy rains once and for all would cost the government about GH¢200 million nation-wide, out of which about GH¢40 million would be spent in Accra alone.
The minister, who made the disclosure during a tour of the mainstream drainage in some parts of Accra yesterday, emphasised that all buildings within and around 15 metres of all major drains in flood-prone areas would be demolished.
He said most buildings had been constructed without the required permits, noting that it was the responsibility of the Lands Department to address that problem.
Alhaji Saddique said an extensive aerial study would be conducted by a technical team which would identify and take pictures of all buildings on water courses in Accra and other parts of the country.
That, he said, would help identify the number of buildings that would have to be pulled down and the owners duly compensated.
The ministry, he indicated, was facing a lot of challenges which, in his view, could be resolved with the help and co-operation of metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives and chiefs.
He called on them to ensure that all buildings on water courses in their jurisdictions were identified and demolished to avoid disasters during heavy downpours.
He advised residents to make sure that they had credible permits covering their buildings and ensure that others did not also build on water courses, pointing out that some people intentionally built their houses on water courses, having in mind that the government would always compensate them when it urgently needed to do so.
The Member of Parliament for Weija, Ms Ayorkor Botchway, said during flooding, people eagerly agreed to help demolish buildings on water courses but immediately the floods were over, they changed their minds.
She agreed that the demolition exercise was appropriate and noted that some residents of her constituency had even started identifying buildings on water courses for demolition.
She gave the assurance that the exercise would be expertly conducted and owners of buildings appropriately compensated.