Some 17 Metropolitan and Municipal Assemblies (MMAs) in the Greater Accra Region have received over GH¢8 million to improve drainage infrastructure under the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) Project.

This follows the disbursement of a total of GH¢ 10. 9 million in 2022 and 2023 for the same goal.

The beneficiary Assemblies are expected to use the grant to improve the operation and maintenance (desilting) of drainage and solid waste management in communities along the Odaw River channel.

The Head of Monitoring and Evaluation at the Directorate of Policy Planning, Budget, Monitoring and Evaluation at the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development (MLDGRD), Eli Yao Kuadey, who disclosed this on GTV Breakfast Show, said the beneficiary Assemblies received a total grant between GH¢ 5.6 million and about GH¢ 7.2 million based on their performances on how well they used the 2023 grant.

“The grant is part of the result-based financing mechanisms the GARID Project has put in place to improve drainage maintenance and solid waste management among the project-implementing MMAs.

"The initial tranches of the grant were disbursed equally to all the seventeen beneficiary Assemblies.

"However, the disbursement of the 2024 tranche and the subsequent ones would be based solely on performance assessments of how well the Assemblies used the grant they received the previous year.”

Kuadey announced that a total of $3,250,000 had been earmarked for disbursement to the 17 project beneficiary Assemblies over a 5-year period.

He said a significant proportion of the grant for the previous years was used by the Assemblies for desilting priority drains they had identified which contributed to the reduction of the incidence of flooding in various localities of the city where the Odaw River traverses.

“Part of the grant was also channelled into institutional development including development of drainage network maps, condition assessments of the drains in the flooding hotspots, procurement of logistics, and for training some staffs of the beneficiary Assemblies” said the Monitoring and Evaluation Manager.

He commended the GARID Project for its support for the Assemblies and urged them to make good use of the grant to curb incidences of flooding in Accra.

Kuadey indicated that the capacity support grant is part of the holistic strategy being implemented by the Ministry to improve flood risk and solid waste management in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area.

He said that the GARID Project through the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development will distribute some multi-purpose drones to the seventeen (17) beneficiary Assemblies under the Project.

The drones will be used to monitor the buffers of the water bodies against encroachment, the surveillance of solid waste hotspots, and generally strengthen development control.

The GARID project is being implemented by Government of Ghana with credit facility from the World Bank and aims at improving drainage, solid waste management and infrastructure in priority flood-prone informal settlements within the Odaw River Basin.

The project beneficiary Assemblies include the Accra Metropolitan Assembly; Ablekuma Central, North, and West Municipal Assemblies; Adentan Municipal Assembly; Ayawaso Central, East, North, and West Municipal Assemblies.

The rest are the Ga Central, East, North, and West Municipal Assemblies; La Dade Kotopon Municipal Assembly; La-Nkwantanang Madina Municipal Assembly; Okaikoi North Municipal Assembly; and Korle-Klottey Municipal Assembly.