Security committees tours flood prone area-Ga South

(

Story: Lucy Adoma Yeboah
THE Ga South Municipal Security Committee on Monday toured flood prone areas within the municipality to see what can be done to reduce the incidence of perennial flooding which annually affects the residents.
The team, led by the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Nii Sheriff Otto-Dodoo, visited the Christian Methodist Senior High School area at Aplaku, areas along the Lafa stream at Awoshie, Santa Maria, Sowutuom and Mallam Junction.
The security committee members also conducted inspection at the mass burial site at Mile 11 and also a sand winning site at Ashalaja, all within the municipality.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic at Santa Maria where a number of residential structures had been marked for demolition, Nii Otto-Dodoo said it had become necessary for a bigger drain to be constructed in the area where an old concrete drain existed.
He said because the old drain was not properly constructed, it easily got choked causing major flooding anytime it rained.
The MCE explained that for the area to have a better drainage system, a number of houses built at both sides of the drain must give way for work to start.
He added that many of such houses along the Awoshie-Pokuase road would have to be pulled down for the road to be constructed by the end of April, this year.
Nii Otto-Dodo also explained that since the drain which covered a long distance at Santa Maria around A’Lang was covered with large stretch of concrete, it was not possible for it to be desilted when it got choked.
He added that a new and a bigger drain must be constructed to carry large volumes of rain water.
According to the MCE, the residents had been sensitised to the need to remove their property from the area else the assembly would embark on the exercise and later surcharge the property owners with the cost of demolition.
Nii Otto-Dodoo said a number of the property owners had no building permits so they built illegally.
On the issue of sand winners at Ashalaja, he stated that either they regulated their activities or they were forced to stop all together.
When the Daily Graphic contacted some of the residents who had come out of their homes at the sight of the municipal security committee members, they pleaded with the assembly to rescind its decision to demolish all structures within 75 metres along the existing concrete drain.
Most of them who spoke to the Daily Graphic, said when they first came to live in the area in the early 1980s and 1990s, they had no problem with floods until the drain was built in 2000.
They stated that the inner portion of that drain was fixed with another concrete work to make it strong for vehicles to move on them, a situation they said, had made the opening into the drain too narrow to carry enough water away.
On the demolition of their structures, they argued that the space at both sides of the drain was big enough for any expansion without pulling down any house since the houses were not so close to the drain.
A member of the landowners association, Mr Joshua Donkor, said the association had petitioned the assembly and was waiting for response.
He also reiterated an earlier plea made by some of the residents to the assembly not to demolish the structures since there was enough space available for any expansion work to be carried out.