Cabinet has approved a US$200 million credit facility for four Ministries to implement the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development Project, to deal with perennial flooding and other sanitary challenges.
The credit facility is from the International Development Association (IDA).
The Information Minister, Mr. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah announced this at the mid-week media briefing in Accra on Wednesday.
He mentioned the four sector Ministries spearheading the project as the Works and Housing, Sanitation and Water Resources, Inner-City and Zongo Development and Local Government and Rural Development.
He said for instance, if the facility is approved by Parliament, the Works and Housing Ministry would use its share of the fund to handle drainage of key water outlets including the Odaw River, while the Water and Sanitation Ministry would use its allocation for the construction of transfer stations and landfill sites.
The Project is expected to improve flood risk management and solid waste management in the Odaw River Basin of the Greater Accra Region and improve access to basic infrastructure and services in the targeted communities within the basin, the Minister stated.
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah noted that flooding in Accra often leads to loss of lives and damage to property.
Therefore, he said, the project would mitigate the impact of floods in the national capital and thereby enhance the socio-economic development of the Region.
Besides, the solid waste management, which has also been a major sanitation hurdle for government would be improved under the project.
The Minister assured that about 500,000 people from low income communities will benefit from solid waste collection and final disposal capacity improvements, under the project.
On a larger scale, he said the project is expected to improve solid waste management, improve basic infrastructure and services in targeted communities.
More so, funding from the project will serve as an annual grant to targeted metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies for enhancement of revenue strategies, improvement of municipal finance and budgeting, and capacity development.
The Minister believed that the indiscriminate dumping of refuse and the plastic waste menace will also be controlled, resulting in the reduction of solid waste that often ends up in the ocean and pollute marine environment.
