It has emerged that the Ministry of Finance has failed to honour a request from the Ministry of Works and House to prevent perennial flooding of the capital city.
A JoyNews report sighted by GhanaWeb indicated that the Works and Housing Ministry requested over ¢800 million cedis from the Finance Ministry to curb flooding in the country.
The Finance Ministry, according to the report has not responded to reminders for the release of the funds to enable the Works and Housing Ministry to end the perennial challenge.
In the Works and Housing Ministry’s letter dated June 4, 2021, with the title ‘Application for commencement certificate for the 2021 emergency national flood control programme’ the Ministry requested from the Finance Minister for the issuance of “Eight hundred and Eighty-Eight Million, Three Hundred Thousand Ghana Cedis (GHC888,300,000.00) for the implementation of the 2021 Emergency National Flood Control Programme to address the serious flooding challenges being experienced across the country.”
Francis Asenso-Boakye, the sector minister who signed the letter, pointed to a presentation to Cabinet on the state of the country’s drainage infrastructure on 5th August, 2021, where it detailed the urgent need to embark on the 2021 and future National Flood Control Programmes to enhance the country’s drainage infrastructure and improve on the country’s resilience to flooding, especially in the light of climate change impact exacerbating an already bad situation.
The objective of the proposal for funding includes:
(i) Mitigate the perennial flooding within the communities
(¡i) Prevent disruption of vehicular movement during heavy rainfall
(ili) Provide means for safe conveyance of grey water
(iv) Mitigate damage for infrastructural facilities and
(v) Mitigate the displacements of people within flood prone areas.
But the Finance Ministry is yet to get back to the Works and Housing Ministry on the request.
The Works and Housing Minister wrote a reminder on August 11, 2021. Parts of the letter read:
“On 5 August, 2021, the Ministry presented to Cabinet, the state of our country’s drainage infrastructure detailing the urgent need to embark on the 2021 and future National Flood Control Programmes to enhance the country’s drainage infrastructure and improve our resilience to flooding. As clearly outlined in the Ministry’s presentation, the adverse effect of climate is exacerbating an already bad situation, hence the sense of urgency.
“We wish to respectfully draw your attention to the fact that time is of the essence in the flood control programme. Our consultant will require adequate time to complete a detailed design and then go through the procurement process ahead of implementation.
“Construction of each project will take a few months to complete. For us to achieve beneficial use of these investments, they need to be completed before the onset of the next major rainy’ season in April 2022. That leaves us only eight months from now to go through all the processes highlighted above.
“In view of the above, we respectfully submit this reminder for the issuance of Commencement Certificate to commit the Government of Ghana to the tune of Eight hundred and Eighty-Eight Million, Three Hundred Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¿888,300,000.00) for the implementation of the 2021 Emergency National Flood Control Programme broken down as follows:
(I) Construction works – GHC793,500,000.00
(II) Excavation / Desilting Works – GHC 94,800,000.00″
Another reminder sent by the Works and Housing Ministry dated June 2, 2022, has not been replied to either.
Source: ghanaweb
