Accra flood: $675m needed for Odaw project

The project is intended to build a one in 10 years flood protection regime, which means that the drainage system will be capable of containing flood events that occur once in every 10 years.

However, the Coordinator of the GARID project, Dr Kwadwo Ohene Sarfoh, said for the country to be able to sustainably build resilience against flooding in the capital city, it was important to build a one in 35 years flood protection regime.

Based on the flood risk mitigation investment alternatives for the Odaw Basin that was carried out, the GARID project was rolled out to implement drainage interventions that would help to improve the Odaw drain and curb flooding in the city.   

He also said the GARID project was working with some state agencies such as the Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet), Ghana Hydrological Authority (GHA), the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and Water Resources Commission (WRC) to implement an early warning system for flood risk management.

He noted that although the current flood protection regime being executed under the GARID project would help to contain one in 10 years flood events, it was prudent to look at the bigger picture, especially so when climate change, urbanisation and other factors would affect the resilience of drainage infrastructure.

To be able to do a one in 25 years flood protection, you will have to widen it to about 60 metres.

“The conversation will have to see how to deal with such people so as to deal with the effects such flood protection measure will bring on them,” he said. Dr Sarfoh said the 2015 flood event, which recorded rains of about 137 millimetres over a six-hour span and was characterised as a one in 10 years event, was a wake-up call for the country to prepare for extreme occurrences.