Ghana’s Ministry for Works and Housing has renewed the contract with Dredge Masters to dredge the lower section of the Odaw channel in Accra from Caprice to the outfall sea bridge.
According to Mr. Atta Akyea, the sector Minister , under the two-year contract, the company will also evacuate and properly dispose of the dredged material at a landfill site to prevent it from being washed back into the channel.
In the statement issued by the Ministry to outline its preparation towards the rainy season, Mr. Atta Akyea indicated that the lower section of the Odaw River channel was the most critical in the flood management.
He said that work is expected to begin immediately to clean the channel ahead of the 2019 rains.
“ The dredging and removal of silt were not enough to fully mitigate the perennial flooding of the low-lying areas along the Odaw channel. Other measures such as the construction of detention ponds, flood plain lowering, channel expansion, flood zoning, and flood early warning system are needed to mitigate flood risk within the Odaw catchment ,” Mr. Atta Akyea added.
He also disclosed that the Ministry through the Hydrological Service Department was embarking on channel improvement works across the country ahead of the rains.