Ho, May 7, GNA – Mr Divine Bosson, Regional Director of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) has said the Ho Municipality would require a re-engineering of its drainage systems and waterways to avert a major disaster in the future.
He said the city’s drainage systems must be enhanced to accommodate the growing population, while its rivers and swamps needed to be properly channeled, to ease flooding.
The Director, who was speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview said designs for a new drain system for the Municipality had been completed by the Hydrological Department of Hohoe since 2018, and appealed to the various stakeholders to consider them for implementation.
He said bridges and culverts in major flood prone areas must be expanded, saying, “These are not gutters. They are rivers and therefore proper engineering must be occasioned.”
The Director said areas such as the YMCA in Ho would require a larger culvert to regulate run-off water, adding that plant vegetation along the waterways hindered flow and clogged bridges.
He said majority of flooding was man-made, and thus communities must help ensure that waterways were cleared of debri and building structures.
Mr Bosson also cautioned developers who filled up flood prone areas, saying they could cause the waters to collect elsewhere.
The Director noted that the year 2021 was proving to be one of the toughest for disaster management, saying “almost” every district in the Region recorded a major disaster, and appealed to the various Assemblies to help arrest emergency situations.
GNA