Dredging of Odaw Begins to Mitigate Floods - - Minister

The Ministry for Works and Housing has renewed the contract with Dredge Masters to dredge the lower section of the Odaw channel from Caprice to the outfall sea bridge.

Mr. Atta Akyea, the sector Minister said under the two-year contract, the company would also evacuate and properly dispose of the dredged material at a landfill site to prevent it from being washed back into the channel.

In a statement issued by the Ministry to outline its preparation towards the rainy season, Mr. Atta Akyea indicated that the lower section of the Odaw River channel was the most critical in the flood management.

He said work was expected to commence immediately to clean the channel ahead of the 2019 rains. Mr. Atta Akyea said the dredging and removal of silt were not enough to fully mitigate the perennial flooding of the low-lying areas along the Odaw channel.

'Other measures such as the construction of detention ponds, flood plain lowering, channel expansion, flood zoning, and flood early warning system are needed to mitigate flood risk within the Odaw catchment,' he added.

He also disclosed that the Ministry through the Hydrological Service Department was embarking on channel improvement works across the country ahead of the rains.

Under the programme, contracts had been awarded for channel improvement works to be carried out on some critical drains to include concrete lining of selected drains, reconstruction of selected culverts and excavation to create channels in areas where channels are undefined and dredging and desilting of silted channels, the Minister stated.

The areas, he said, included Agbogba, Achimota, Westland, and Pantang. Other construction works would take place in the Ashanti, Western, Volta, Eastern, Northern Brong Ahafo, and Central Regions.

Meanwhile, he said areas within Greater Accra that are considered to be flood-prone would be attended to.

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