Tamale, Aug. 17, GNA - The government on Thursday officially took over the 62 billion-cedi Tamale Storm Drains Project jointly financed by the government of Ghana and the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa.

Arab Contractors, a construction firm, executed the project, which covers 13.6 kilometres of drains. Tamale Metropolitan Assembly would now manage the facility.

Madam Cecilia Abena Dapaah and Mr. Christopher Addae, Deputy Ministers of Water Resource, Works and Housing, jointly inspected the drains before the handing-over.

They appealed to residents of the Metropolis, especially those who live near the drains, to stop defecating and throwing debris into them to avoid any future flooding and outbreak of airborne and waterborne disease.

The Deputy Ministers urged the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly to engage people to keep surveillance over the drainage system for a fee to enhance its lifespan and also to facilitate the flow of water. Some residents who live near the drains whom the Ministers talked to, asked the Metro Assembly to enforce its sanitation bye-laws to promote environmental hygiene in the communities.

Mr. Mohammed Amin Adam, the Metropolitan Chief Executive, thanked the government and the Arab Bank for the project, and expressed the hope that the perennial flooding in the city would now be a thing of the past.

He appealed to the government to finance the second phase of the project to extend it to the outlying towns.

He announced that the assembly would construct 1,500 household toilets and 15 new public toilets in the Metropolis and appealed to the residents to patronise the facilities when completed. Mr. Adam warned that the assembly would deal drastically with any person caught defecating or throwing garbage into the drains. 17 Aug. 06