Mr Alfred Oko Vanderpuije, Mayor of Accra, on Thursday said until bold steps were taken to deal with waste flowing into the Odaw catchment into the Korle Lagoon, the Korle Lagoon Ecological Restoration Project (KLERP) would be an illusion.

Work on the $89.52 million project, which started in 1995 and expected to be completed by the middle of 2005 to make the lagoon one of the cleanest in the country is yet to deliver on its set objectives because activities of the residents along the Odaw and Sodom and Gomorrah have become a major obstacle stalling the project.

The project has become an environmental health disaster and has far reaching negative effects on the health status of the people with the undiscriminating dumping of electronic, plastic, metal, household, sawdust waste by resident of Sodom and Gomorrah.

One of the main objectives of KLERP is to mitigate perennial flooding in most parts of the capital and address the pollution in the lagoon, which has led to the poor catch of fish by the fishermen who lived in Korle Gonno and surrounding communities such as Chorkor and James Town.

The project was to find an alternative route for the 1.5 kilometre outfall pipeline through the Korle Lagoon as part of the project to enhance the general environmental ambience of the Korle Lagoon area.

Interacting with Members of Council of State who toured KLERP with the Mayor and officials of Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Mr Vanderpuije bemoaned the current state of the lagoon, which was the cause of flooding in the capital.

He explained that because the Korle Lagoon, which should channel flood waters into the sea was choked, the flood water instead of finding its way into the sea flowed back into the communities.

There have been modest achievements in flood mitigation by desilting the Odaw, he said, but noted that despite the gains, it would be useless until the lagoon was totally dredged.

He was of the view that if the practice of waste disposal into the lagoon was not tackled the country would not have a dog’s chance of keeping the lagoon free from filth.

Mr Vanderpuije said there was the need to dredge the lagoon as early as possible and increase its capacity to accommodate more storm water.

Professor Kofi Awonoor, Chairman of the Council of State expressed his displeasure with the heavily silted lagoon due to activities of residents and urged them to put a stop to it, to allow the city authorities to work on the lagoon, to avert any possible disaster that might occur during the rainy season.

He called on city authorities to endeavour to dredge the lagoon and pledged the Council’s support in that endeavour.

The Kuwaiti, BADIA, OPEC and Government of Ghana funded project, had failed to deliver on its objectives since most part of the capital continued to experience severe flooding whenever it rained.

The original objective as captured in the terms of reference for ADK Consortium, project consultants’ in1994, was to address the main cause of extensive and widespread flooding, which had affected the entire drainage network in Accra, resulting in serious perennial flooding, leading to loss of lives and property.

These objectives were set against the background of perennial flooding in Accra, which had defied attention at the time. The lagoon itself has been dredged between 1961 and 1994, but had reverted to its polluted status again at the time the project was proposed.

In order to achieve these objectives, the consultants recommended activities aimed at dredging the lagoon and improving facilities for diverting and treating dry weather flows in two stages.

Between 2000 and 2002, mangrove swamps were cleared, dredging and disposal of dredged material, sealing and capping of material that had been disposed off close to the lagoon.

Grassing of capped material and re-alignment of three drains within the vicinity of the lagoon were done within the period.

Between 2003 and 2005, the construction of interceptor to divert dry weather flows, construction of pumping station and treatment plant to pre-treat diverted flow and the disposal of the pre-treated flow via a new sea outfall pipeline was undertaken.

The Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing at that time, maintained that the delay in the achievement of the set objectives by the project was due to activities of squatters living at the sprawling Sodom and Gomorra settlement.

The project involves the removal of strongly contaminated old sediments for over 20 years, especially garbage; create more storage capacity of water during flooding.

Other aspects of the project include dredging and green belts on both banks of the lagoon and the construction of shops, restaurants and recreation area.**