By Juliet Aguiar DUGBARTEY, Kwesiminstim
Dr. Prince Hamid Armah, Deputy Minister of Works and Housing has assured the people of Kwesimintsim constituency that the on-going storm drains under construction will soon be completed.
He said “I am optimistic that the completion of the storm drain will solve the perennial flooding in the area”.
Inspecting some of the storm drains at Kwesimintsim Apollo, Anaji, I-Adu among others, he emphasized that “the Ministry of Works and Housing is working hard to ensure that perennial flood issue within the region and some parts of the country becomes a thing of the best”.
Dr. Armah, gave the assurance when he toured the constituency as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kwesiminstim with some departmental heads from the ministry to check on the progress of work.
According to the executives of Residents Association in the areas visited, “some people are forced to leave their homes whenever there’s heavy downpour and this, affects small and medium enterprises in the area.
Also, some attributed the flood prone areas to the city authourities for not inspecting sites before issuing permit for project whiles others mentioned throwing of waste indiscriminately in gutters among others”.
Responding, Dr. Armah said storm drains are already at various stages of completion whilst others are currently being considered.
“At Apollo, we will soon construct a 600-meter drainage system to deal with the flooding situation causing troubles in some the homes. And at Kwesimintsim Fie, 700-meter storm drain will also be constructed” he said.
At I-Adu, the contractors were busily working on an 800-meter-long storm drain and Dr. Armah was hopeful that the project will be completed before scheduled.
In a related development Dr. Prince Hamid Armah inspected the growth of work on the Sea Defense at Axim, Dixcove and Aboadze all in the Western Region.
These projects, being implemented by Ghana Hydrological Authority, is to ensure that those living along the coast, are protected from sea erosion and its devastating effects.
On the Axim Sea Defense, the project begun in 2018 and was scheduled to have been completed within a four-year period. However, the project had to be halted to make way for the Axim Fishing Port and Landing site project which will soon be commissioned.
Dr. Armah assured the fisherfolk at Axim that government has given the go ahead for the completion of the sea defense.
He said “three of the coastal line projects in areas such as Dansoman, Anomabo and Komenda are almost completed and the President, Nana Akufo Addo will soon commission them”.
Explaining that “we have a 550 km coastal line and there are hotspots that need urgent attention to avoid the sea eroding communities. We have completed about 80km of the coastal line projects and we still have 270km more to do. Phase two of the Dansoman Project will soon begin and 1.2km will be added to the Axim project to avoid any future disasters to the community and fisher folks”, he concluded.
