Cabinet has approved a $200million credit facility for the proposed Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) Project.
The facility which is being contracted from the International Development Association (IDA) is expected to be utilised for the improvement of the drainage and sanitation situation in the nation’s capital.
Addressing journalists at the mid-week edition of the Minister’s Briefing in Accra yesterday, the Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said the project would commence immediately the facility received parliamentary approval.
He said the project would be spearheaded by four ministries including; Works and Housing, Sanitation and Water Resources, Zongo Development and Local Government and Rural Development.
Mr Nkrumah explained that the Ministry of Works and Housing would use its share of the fund to handle drainage of key water outlets in Accra including the Odaw River while the ministry of Sanitation would be responsible for the construction of transfer stations and landfill sites.
“The project is expected to improve flood risk management and solid waste management in the Odaw River Basin of the Greater Accra Region and improve access to basic infrastructure and services in the targeted communities within the basin,” he emphasised.
He said government attached much importance to the project which would lead to ending the perennial flooding events which often led to the loss of lives and damage to properties.
“The project will therefore mitigate the impact of floods thereby enhancing economic and social development,” he added.
Mr Nkrumah said solid waste management which continue to be a major challenge in the city would also witness much improvement under the project, adding that “About 500,000 people from low income communities will benefit from solid waste collection and final disposal capacity improvement.”
He said on a larger scale some of the expected outcomes would include; improved basic infrastructure and services in targeted communities and also serve as an annual grant to targeted Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies for the enhancement of revenue strategies, improvement of municipal finance and budgeting and capacity development.
“The indiscriminate dumping of refuse and the plastic waste menace will also be controlled resulting in the reduction of solid waste that ends up in the ocean also known as marine litter,” he concluded.
In a related development, 582 communities in five regions of the country are expected to benefit from a $103million rural electrification facility.
According to Mr Nkrumah the facility was an agreement between the government of Ghana through the Ministry of Energy and the China International Water and Electric Corporation.
He said the beneficiary regions were the Ashanti, Bono, Eastern, Volta and Western and formed part of the phase two of the initial 1.033 communities.
The minister explained that the phase one of the project was earmarked to connect 495 communities in 15 districts of the Ashanti, Eastern, Volta and Western regions which was about 90 per cent completed with 441 communities already connected to the national grid.
He said the money for the phase two would be used to finance the supply and reception of electrical materials and equipment for the electrification projects in these communities.
“The agreement is part of government’s National Electrification Scheme since 1990 which is aimed at reducing poverty especially in rural areas, increasing the overall socio-economic development of the nation and enhancing the activities in other sectors of the economy such as agriculture, health, education and tourism,” he emphasised.
Mr Nkrumah said the scope of the project included the design, manufacture, delivery, installation, testing and commissioning, as well as handing over of the electrification project to the beneficiary communities.
By Cliff Ekuful
