'I Feel Very Comfortable We’ve Reduced Flooding'

All the flood mitigating measures that the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) put in place after the June 3 flood disaster, which killed scores of people and destroyed many properties, are yielding results as the city, in the mayor’s estimation, did not get flooded as much as it would have in the past, despite continuous heavy rains over the weekend.

These measures, according to Mr Alfred Oko Vanderpuije, have contributed significantly to the reduction of floods in the capital city.

Mr Vanderpuije told Prince Minkah, host of the Executive Breakfast Show (EBS) on Class 91.3 FM Monday, May 23 that “after June 3 disaster, we have massively been desilting the Odor River and the Korle channel leading into the ocean.”

“We have three dredgers on the Korle River and that is the work that they have been doing,” he said, adding: “Given the fact that it has rained continuously for four days in Accra where we know that naturally speaking it would have flooded this city to major heights, but that has not happened. We have seen some flooding in Adabraka and in some parts of Accra, but let us recognise the fact that it has not risen to the level that we used to be seeing because some works have been done,” Mr Vanderpuije noted.

He, however, said more work needed to be done to totally reduce flooding in the city. “Apart from the dredging and desilting, we have to get to construct the needed drains because the drains that we have in Accra today need reconstruction, we have to open up some of the channels, then construct drains in our communities, so that it will take all these rain water away from our communities.”

“So, we will continue to do the work that must be done. We recognise that we have more work to do. There is the need for us to continue to educate our people about the refuse [situation] and how we deal with refuse in the community. We have given contracts to companies to register everybody that generates refuse. The AMA and all District Assemblies must make sure that we get everybody’s refuse collected and we must also desilt our gutters and our drains,” the mayor told Prince Minkah.

When asked whether he felt comfortable talking about Accra floods every year, Mr Vanderpuije said: "I feel very comfortable this morning. I have always envisaged that if we do the right things, it will give us the results. If we do the same things we will get the same results, but when we do the right thing from time to time, it will give us a different result and we are doing the right thing. Government is committed to it, His Excellency the President is always talking and making sure that we are dredging the Korle lagoon, we are desilting the drains to make sure that we do not have a repeat of June 3. The second phase is that we will construct the drains; that we will need to work on and I’m sure that will also follow to make this city safer for all of us."