The Government has so far spent 52.3 million dollars on the Keta Sea Defence project to fight sea erosion in the area, the Minister of Finance, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo said on Thursday.

The Minister, who was presenting the 2002 Budget to Parliament, said some phases of the project were completed last year.

He said three out of seven groynes designed to be constructed in armour rock were completed and parts of land in Vodza and Adzido were reclaimed for resettlement through hydraulic filling of sand dredged from the Keta Lagoon.

Also completed were sand embankment for link road up to 6.5 kilometres out of 8.3 kilometres through hydraulic filling, placing of crushers run stone, grading, watering and rolling and cross roads to groynes sites.

Mr Osafo-Maafo said similar works were carried out in parts of Ada, Nkontompo, Shama, Axim and Akatakyie as part of efforts to protect the coastline through a combination of the use of a system of groynes armour rocks/gabions revertment and groyne structures from sea erosion.

The Minister touched on the Korle Lagoon Ecological Restoration Project and mentioned the dredging of the lower lagoon and canalisation of the upper lagoon; channel improvement of the Kaneshie, Odaw/Korle and the Agbogbloshie canals; and slope protection to the sides of the Kaneshie, Odaw/Korle Canals as some of the activities completed last year.

The rest are the provision of gabion hydraulic pump structure in the Kaneshie Canal; landscaping, site reclamation and grassing of the former Pig Farm at Korle Gonno.

The government, the Minister said, also secured funds to build serviced land banks at Dunkonah, Berekusu, Manchie and other parts of Accra.