Hot!News

Govt allocates GH¢197m to contain floods

Government has allocated a total of GH₵197million to the Ministry of Works and Housing to help contain floods and clean up drains and gutters in the country.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Sanitation, Madam Cecilia Dapaah yesterday, in Accra, at a briefing on the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area Sanitation and Water Project (GAMA-SWP).

The GAMA-SWP is a $150 million World Bank funded Ghana government project for the provision of household toilets and potable water to lower and middle income communities in Accra.

According to her, the negative attitude of the people towards environmental cleanliness was having a toll on the nation’s resources because of the huge investment in tackling sanitation in the country.

The minister said that the resources used in addressing the hydra-headed sanitation challenges could have been invested in other social intervention programmes to improve the lives of the people.

“If we have not put rubbish in these drains and gutters, we could not have spent so much money which would have been put into other uses,” she noted.

The sector minister noted that government had made positive strides in cleaning the city and urged the people to take responsibility for waste disposal.

Mrs Daapah said that about 4,000 waste bins would soon be distributed to help rid the city of filth.

She appealed to the youth to venture into waste treatment which she said could serve as a source of employment and wealth creation.

Mrs Dapaah identified slum dwellers and attitudes of the people as an obstacle to addressing sanitation and urged the people, particularly the youth to change their attitudes.

Mr George Asiedu, the coordinator for GAMA-SWP said the ministry would collaborate with the Ministry of Works and Housing to scoop and desilt 22 selected drains next month.

The drains, he said, include Sukura-Mampong, Kaneshie, Awudome, St Mary, Achimota-Apenkwa, Kwashieman drains among others.

Mr Asiedu said that the household toilet project which targeted 19,100 households by the end of the project in 2020 had exceeded its target with a total of 19,917 as at now.

He commended government’s effort in negotiating the reduction in the contribution of the beneficiaries for the provision of household toilets and access to potable water.

BY ABEDUWAA LUCY APPIAH

Show More
Back to top button