KMA Boss tours flooded areas in Kumasi

THE METROPOLITAN Chief Executive (MCE) of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), Mr. Samuel Sarpong, last Friday embarked on a day's working visit to a number of places in the metropolis which came under severe flooding, as a result of last Thursday night's torrential downpour.

Recent flood cases in the Ashanti Regional capital, Kumasi, have prompted the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) to announce that about eighty houses would be demolished.

Many flood prone areas in Kumasi, particularly the Oforikrom constituency, experienced flooding, forcing residents to evacuate their premises.

Many houses have been submerged by flooding as a result of the heavy downpour which lasted for almost three hours, while properties and items running into millions of cedis have been destroyed.

The prompt visit by the Metro Chief Executive was to enable him acquaint himself with the extent of damage caused, and to express his sympathy to victims of the disaster.

Among the places the MCE visited included Bomso, Susuanso, Anloga, Susuanakyi and Top High.

He was accompanied on his tour by the Metro Engineer of the Department of Urban of Roads and the Metropolitan Director in-charge of Waste Management.

Conducting officers around the places hit by the flooding, the Assembly Member for the Bomso Electoral Area, Mr. William Kwame Fordjour, attributed the perennial flooding in the area to the lack of a proper drainage system.

He stated further that anytime there was a heavy downpour, a local river in the community called River Akosu overflowed its banks causing massive flooding in the area.

The Metropolitan Chief Executive in an interview with Ashanti File later said the assembly was deeply concerned about the continuous loss of lives and properties through flooding, and underscored the need for the assembly to take radical measures to ensure that a lasting solution was found to the menace.

The emotionally-touched KMA boss said the assembly was embarking on a move to conscientise people who live in flood-prone areas to consider the dangers involved in living in such areas, adding a re-assessment of residential status of flood-prone areas would be initially undertaken, before the implementation of any decision.

Mr. Sarpong also made a brief stopover at Ahodwo, Sokoban and TUC, where he inspected a number of ongoing road construction works.

Meanwhile, the Metro Engineer of the Department of Urban Roads, Mr. T. Quaye, has announced plans for the immediate reconstruction of a damaged bridge at TUC, which caved in a few weeks ago, as a result of the pressure from the river overflowing its banks.

Residents living in suburbs such as TUC, Dakodwo and Fankyeneba have been cut-off from the rest of the metropolis, after the main bridge at TUC junction was damaged, as a result of the rain.

He said his department had secured an approval from the Ministry of Road and Highways for the immediate repair of the bridge, which links a number of communities to the central business district, adding the project had been offered to a contractor who would begin work next week.