Seventeen Metropolitan and Municipal Assemblies (MMAs) in the Greater Accra Region have been allocated over GHS 8 million to enhance drainage infrastructure under the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) Project.
This funding follows the disbursement of a total of GHS 10.9 million in 2022 and 2023 for similar purposes.
The beneficiary assemblies are expected to utilize the grant to improve the operation and maintenance, particularly desilting, of drainage and solid waste management systems in communities along the Odaw River channel.
Dr. Ohene Sarfoh, the GARID Project Coordinator, announced this during an event where multipurpose drones were distributed to the project beneficiaries.
He stated that the assemblies received grants ranging from GHS 5.6 million to about GHS 7.2 million, depending on their performance in utilizing the 2023 grant effectively.
“The grant is part of the result-based financing mechanisms the GARID Project has put in place to improve drainage maintenance and solid waste management among the project implementing MMAs. The initial tranches of the grant were disbursed equally to all the seventeen beneficiary Assemblies. However, the disbursement of the 2024 tranche and the subsequent ones would be based solely on performance assessments of how well the assemblies used the grant they received the previous year.”
Dr. Sarfoh announced that a total of $3,250,000 has been earmarked for disbursement to the 17 project beneficiary assemblies over a five-year period.
He stated that a significant portion of the previous years’ grants was utilized by the assemblies to desilt priority drains they had identified. This effort has contributed to a reduction in flooding incidents in various localities traversed by the Odaw River.
“Part of the grant was also channeled into institutional development including development of drainage network maps, condition assessments of the drains in the flooding hotspots, procurement of logistics, and for training some staff of the beneficiary assemblies” said the Project Coordinator.
He urged the assemblies to make effective use of the grant to mitigate flooding in Accra.
The GARID project, implemented by the government of Ghana with a credit facility from the World Bank, aims to improve drainage, solid waste management, and infrastructure in flood-prone informal settlements within the Odaw River Basin.
The project beneficiary assemblies include the Accra Metropolitan Assembly; Ablekuma Central, North, and West Municipal Assemblies; Adentan Municipal Assembly; Ayawaso Central, East, North, and West Municipal Assemblies; Ga Central, East, North, and West Municipal Assemblies; La Dade Kotopon Municipal Assembly; La-Nkwantanang Madina Municipal Assembly; Okaikoi North Municipal Assembly; and Korle-Klottey Municipal Assembly.