The dredging of the Aboabo Storm Drain in the Asokore Mampong Municipality has begun in a bid to address perennial floods caused by siltation.

Residents along the banks of the River Aboabo have often been displaced by floods during rainy season.

Victims have also lost property worth millions of cedis to flood water.

The shallow nature of the drain has been identified as major cause of flooding in the area.

“I was born, raised and I am now living here. This place was not flooding. Someone built on the waterway that is why the water doesn’t flow,”58-year-old, Mutala, popularly known as Chakapama, said.

After several promises by successive governments to dredge and reconstruct the drain, it has finally been handed to a contractor and work has begun.

Municipal Chief Executive for Asokore Mampong Municipality, Alidu Seidu, revealed funds for the project is from the Zongo Development Fund.

Choked drain

The Peleele drain is chocked with plastic bins, polythene bags, faeces and sand due to the activities of residents.

A 14-member committee has been set up to monitor and ensure residents don’t dump refuse and defecate in the drain while work is ongoing.

Mr. Alidu warns that anybody found culpable will be dealt with to serve as a deterrent.

“We won’t allow anybody sabotage this work. The drain connects about seven electoral areas in the constituency which makes it a very important thing. The police have pledged their support to arrest any recalcitrant person,” he said.

It is not clear how much has been allocated for the project but the MCE says his outfit will ensure there is value for money.

Contractor for the project, Undaglow Contractors, has started with the dredging as the first phase of the project.

CEO, Fayad Mohammed Mahama, says the dredging phase could last between 20 and 30 days.

“The scope of the project is 1.7 kilometre. Our main duty is to dredge the sand and dirt from it. First phase is the dredging along the banks.”

Often, dirt from chocked gutters is left on the shoulders of the gutter or drain which later get washed back into the drain.

But Mr Mahama says this project has plans to address this challenge.

“First in its history that we are going to clear the sand; we will not leave the sand on the shoulders of the bridge. We have a dumping site after they dredge, the excavator excavates it then they dump it in the trucks then we go and dump it at the designated site. There are ten trucks a day on standby to convey the sand and dirt,” he said.

Residents are excited the project has finally begun but they want measures put in place to ensure the project is completed.

Awal Mohammed, one of the residents suggests a continuous education and sensitisation is done in the communities on the need not to dump waste in the drain.

“If the people here are not educated to prevent each other from dumping refuse in the drain. The work will be COS 90,” he notes

Meanwhile, Mr Alidu Seidu says it is after the first phase of the project has been completed that details of the second phase will be revealed.