SEKONDI-TAKORADI PREPARES FOR RAINS (PAGE 18)

THE rainy season is here with us again in the Sekondi/Takoradi metropolis with its associated flooding in some flood prone areas, particularly in Takoradi.
Last week Thursday morning, torrential rains accompanied by strong winds was enough to give a strong signal to the engineers of the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) on the havoc this year’s rainfall could cause in the metropolis.
Almost all the flood prone suburbs in Takoradi were seriously affected by the early morning downpour.
Flooding has become an annual ritual in some parts of Takoradi as a result of the narrow, poor and inadequate drainage system in the city.
Residents in the most affected areas, such as Asikafoambantem Number One and Two as well the Takoradi Central Market area, have been complaining about the situation every year.
Due to the low lying nature of the areas, anytime there is a downpour, the water could rise to a very high level and enter many bed and living rooms as well as stores, thereby destroying personal effects and goods.
To find a lasting solution to this problem, on February 20, 2008, the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly embarked on the construction of selected drains in the metropolis.
The project is part of the Urban Environmental Sanitation Project being funded by the International Development Agency at the cost of GH¢3,188,476.00 and it is to be executed within 18 months.
It involves the improvement of the 1.8- kilometre Kokompe-Adakope drain, improvement of the 1,120-metre Ashanti Road-Kokompe drain and the reinforcing and concrete lining of the 600-metre Ghana Water Company Limited-Maersk drain.
The rest are the reinforcing of concrete lining of the 550-metre of the West Tanokrom main stream drain, the construction of two culverts on the Effia Nkwanta Hospital branch drain and the reinforced concrete lining 500-metre of the Kansaworodo-Effia-Number Nine drain.
The project is being executed by Messrs China Zhong Hao (Ghana) Limited, with the Municipal Development Collaborative Limited (MDC) as consultants.
The Project Co-ordinator of the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly, Mr Simon Labi Addo, told the Daily Graphic that 40 per cent of work on the project had been completed, and that if the rains did not disrupt work the entire project would be completed by the end of this year.
He said most of the work had been done on the Effia-Number Nine-West Tanokrom drain.
“At the moment improvement works on the Adakope drain and the Ashanti Road –Kokompe drain have started and work is ongoing,” he explained, adding “I hope it will be completed on schedule if the rains do not disturb”.
But until this laudable storm drains project is completed, residents in the flood-prone areas in Takoradi and its environs should learn how to cope with the annual flooding of those affected areas.