By: Nicholas Osei-Wusu
Ghana is losing 89 million Dollars annually in damage and loss of property through flooding in the Ashanti regional capital of Kumasi alone.
The cost of damage is projected to increase to $220M by 2050 if the state does not devise an urgent sustainable solution for the perennial flooding problem.
This is the initial finding by one of the Consultants contracted by the Government and the World Bank to help identify the causes of, and solutions for the persistent flooding challenges in Kumasi, for immediate state intervention.
This came to the fore at a validation workshop in Kumasi organized by the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing.
Parts of the Greater Kumasi metropolitan area in the Ashanti region have become flood prone in recent years becoming a major cause for concern by residents and state agencies.
Residents of suburbs like Ahinsan Bonsuon and Atonsu ‘S’-Line in the Asokwa Municipality, until recently when the storm drainage system was built, had always been on tenterhooks before and during the rainy season due to the extensive devastation after every rainfall.
To date, there are clear visible remnants of the damages caused by floods as some landlords have been compelled to abandon their properties with other houses submerging with many people becoming homeless or forced to relocate.
Human lives are also lost through drowning during the flooding periods.
The situation is no different at areas such as Aboabo, Akwatialine and in the Asokore Mampong Municipality.
It is against this background that the government, with the support of the World Bank, has initiated steps towards finding an enduring solution to the challenge toward protecting life and property.
Some consultants have already started studies of some Basin Flood Water risk assessment focusing on three key urban watersheds namely Rivers Sisan, Wewe and Aboabo to identify the main causes of the flooding, its cost and also to proffer lasting solutions.
The Workshop in Kumasi, organized by the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing was for the consultants to present their initial report for the validation of the participants including Engineers, Development Planning Officers and Hydrologists from the Regional Administration and selected Metropolitan and Municipal Assemblies.
The Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, Kenneth Adjei, recounting the catastrophic June 3, 2015 twin fire and flood incident in Accra, noted that climate change, in particular, has caused complexities into the causes of flooding with Ghana’s major two urban centres, Accra and Kumasi, now the worst affected.
He assured that, government will consider promptly the final Report from the ongoing technical studies to address the problem permanently.
“The Ministry re-affirms of its commitment to ensure prompt and effective implementation of the recommendations of these studies. Their successful completion will serve as a foundation for further collaboration with development partners”, the Minister said.
A Senior Urban Specialist of the World Bank, Santiago Arias, disclosed that the team has already made some unusual observations about the challenges in Kumasi, compared with previous places they have worked.
He however assured that, the team will do a thorough job, which findings should help the World Bank to mobilize enough resources to address the flooding problem.
Mr. Arias noted “the solutions we’re going to bring are going to be taken to the highest level because for us to be able to advance this initial assessment to the next is when we really have the support at the national level.”
The Ashanti Regional Economic Planning Officer, Madam Beatrice Kwarteng Asare, who represented the Regional Minister, pledged the commitment of the Regional Coordinating Council to cooperating with all the stakeholders, including the technical study teams to find sustainable solutions to the perennial flooding problem.
