Hon. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, on Thursday said the reconstruction of the Odaw Channel was critical to the achievement of substantial reduction of flooding within the Odaw basin.

He said this was because all the tertiary and secondary drains in major townships within Accra, such as Dzorwulu, Tesano, Alajo, Nima and North Kaneshie were drained into the sea through the Odaw primary drain.

Baah-Wiredu said this at the inauguration of a 13-member Anti-Flood Committee in Accra. The committee is to educate and assist inhabitants of Alajo, Avenor, Kpehe, Abelemkpe and Maamobi, who stay very close to the drain, in the event of flooding.

It consists of representatives from the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Accra Metropolitan Assembly, a representative of the Greater Accra Regional Minister and a representative from the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO).

The rest are representatives from the Meteorological Services Department, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Roads and Transport, Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Works and Housing.

The remaining members are from the Ghana Journalists Association, Ghana Private Roads Transport Union and the Sub-Metros. Baah-Wiredu said the construction process would impose further constriction on the flow of floodwater through the channel, particularly the stretch up-stream of the Avenor Bridge.

It was, therefore important to take the necessary precautions to minimise any negative effects that the project might have on nearby inhabitants during the construction process.

Sheikh I.C. Quaye, Greater Accra Regional Minister, urged the inhabitants to support the project. He said the inhabitants had to bear with any inconvenience they might have to suffer in the course of the project, as it would be a little price that they had to pay for a lasting solution to the problem of flooding.

Sheikh Quaye said the government, through the newly formed Committee, would lessen the effects of the construction on the inhabitants in case of flooding. The second phase of the Odaw Drainage Works, which is in progress commenced in August last year and is expected to be completed in February next year.

It followed the signing of a new agreement last year between the government and Messrs Sonitra. It comprises the reconstruction of the Avenor and Alajo bridges and the reconstruction of 1.25 kilometres of the Odaw Channel between the two bridges.

The project is receiving financial assistance form the Agence Francaise de Developpement of France and is expected to cost 11 million Euros (about 99 billion cedis).

Messrs China International Water and Electric Corporation undertook the first phase, under the supervision of Messrs SNC Lavalin International of Canada. It comprised the reconstruction of 3.25 kilometres of the channel from the Abossey Okai Bridge to the Avenor Bridge as a rectangular concrete channel.

It cost 12 million US dollars and was funded by the World Bank under the Urban Environmental Sanitation Project being executed by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development.