The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) is developing an insurance policy for all businesses within the jurisdiction to minimise the effect of disaster on them.
The policy is intended to cushion the businesses against floods and fires; the commonly recorded natural disasters in the area.
The policy is being developed under the Risk Management Approaches for Climate and Health Risk project in collaboration with German Development Cooperation, GIZ.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghanaian Times on the sideline of a project closure workshop in Accra yesterday, Chief Executive of the AMA, Mohammed Adjei Sowah, said the project would mitigate the effect of disasters on businesses and households in Accra.
“The impact of flooding in Accra affects the economy and livelihoods and this intervention would promote sustainable ways of living. The non-insurance of businesses and households in Accra is widespread and because they are disaster prone, the insurance companies hardly reach out to them.
“In this regard, we are working with some insurance companies to understand the risks involved in working with the informal sector players and to be able to embrace them with their insurance packages,” he said.
He said even the firms willing to insure their properties were finding it difficult to get insurers because of the risk involved, hence the need to make Accra a resilient city to floods in particular.
He revealed that since the June 3, 2015 twin disaster which claimed at least 150 lives in Accra, automobile companies affected along the Graphic Road threatened to relocate their business out of the country because insurance companies were unwilling to insure them as a result of the risks they faced.
“For that matter, central government prioritised the construction of drains in that area and that is why we have not experienced flooding there for the past two years,” he said.
Accra, he indicated, is more resilient than two years ago; a situation he attributed to effective waste management, construction of drains and the constant dredging of the Odaw and the Korley Lagoon and other drains in the city.
“These are clear interventions which are gradually moving Accra towards being resilient,” he stated.
Country Director of GIZ, Mrs Regina Bauerochse Barbosa, in her welcome address said the annual floods in the capital have severe consequence on the country which needs to be addressed.
As a result, she said it had become imperative to develop strategies to minimise the effects of disasters like flood including developing holistic approaches like risk transfer solutions.
The workshop was on the theme: “Looking forward into the future on flood management.”
BY JULIUS YAO PETETSI
