Dr. Ohene Sarfo
PARLIAMENT has approved additional funding of $150 million for the Greater Accra Resilience and Integrated Development (GARID) project.
The GARID project is a Government of Ghana and World Bank initiative aimed at reducing the vulnerability of residents of Accra, especially those living along the banks of the Odaw River and other drains, to floods while strengthening the resilience of the Odaw and other drains in Accra in events of flooding.
At an inter-ministerial meeting comprising of representatives from the Ministry of Works and Housing (MoWH); the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD); the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources (MSWR) – the key components of government spearheading the project – Dr. Ohene Sarfo, GARID Project Coordinator, disclosed that Parliament had approved additional funding of $150 million to support the project, with disbursement already “proceeding.”
He added that the timeline for the completion of the project had been extended from 2025 to 2027, citing the COVID-19 outbreak as one of the key reasons necessitating the change.
As part of the project, the team would undertake what experts describe as “performance-based dredging”; sand traps as well as detention points where water is retained in some portions of the Odaw for a period of time so that it doesn’t overflow into neighbouring communities thereby causing floods.
On his part, Dr. Prince Hamid Armah, Deputy Minister, MoWH, underscored the need for more inter-ministerial collaboration in subsequent national projects as is being done with the GARID project.
“The days where ministries work in silos appear to be over.We believe that after the expiration of the project, collaboration between ministries must continue,” he posited.
Addressing claims by the Minority in Parliament that $65 million of initial funding for the project was misappropriated, Dr. Armah stated that such claims are false and explained that the amount was used as part of contingency funding by government when COVID-19 struck.
“Every expenditure related to the project has been properly accounted for. There has not been any reports anywhere suggesting that the $65 million has been misapplied. Every single penny of that money has been accounted for and presented to Parliament,” he said.
BY Nii Adjei Mensahfio
