The Minister of Works and Housing, Samuel Atta Akyea, has called on Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) to undertake periodic tours of their jurisdictions to inspect the proper development of the areas.
He said the move would avert unplanned and sporadic development to avert building in water ways and wetlands as a way of addressing flooding.
The Minister, who joined the night cleaning exercise by the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) to desilt chocked gutters in the metropolis, said it was imperative for the MMDAs to ensure development is authorised and legal.
According to him, building and development permits should be properly authorised, and suggested that the Development Control units of the MMDAs should go round and check to see whether developments have been authorised and permitted, upon which unauthorised buildings should be demolished to avert the dangers of flooding.
Atta Akyea as well called on Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies to embark on educational campaigns to sensitise the people to stop disposing of refuse into the gutters, which causes flooding.
The Minister, accompanied by his deputy, Eugene Boakye Antwi, said the government was committed to ensuring that the drains are clean to allow the free passage of rain water, as the Meteorological Authority has predicted abnormally heavy rains this year.
In anticipation of that, the Minister cautioned residents to refrain from the attitude and behaviour of dumping solid waste into the drains, and appealed to Ghanaians to embark on voluntary national desilting of drains to contain the impending floods.
Atta Akyea indicated that floods had the tendency of destroying lives, livelihoods and properties, and therefore, in anticipation of the rains, Ghanaians should endeavour to desilt their gutters to mitigate flooding during heavy downpours.
He reminded Ghanaians of the consequences of floods if they refused to desilt their gutters, noting that “whenever we have heavy downpour, we would experience the crisis of flooding, hence the need to desilt out drains as our contribution to complement efforts by the government to ensure that the drains are clean, for which GH¢2 million has been allocated.”
Mr. Atta Akyea noted that the consequences of the COVID-19, and flooding as a result of the negative human activity of indiscriminate dumping of waste, could be devastating, and pleaded that residents to voluntarily resort to healthy sanitation and environment practices, as well observing all the protocols and personal hygiene to keep flooding at bay and contain the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Minister commended the Mayor of Kumasi and the KMA for the introduction of the night cleaning exercises, saying it was consistent with the government’s policy of ensuring healthy sanitation and environments.
The exercise, which took place at the central business district, Asafo, and Alabar, was organised by the KMA and participated by soldiers, personnel from the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), and voluntary organisations and individuals.
Osei Assibey Antwi, Mayor of Kumasi, gave the assurance that the exercise would be sustained on a rotational basis in the various constituencies constituting the Kumasi Metropolis to make the desired impact.
He urged the residents to use dustbins in disposing of waste instead of littering, which adds to the cost of waste collection and management at the expense of the larger development agenda of the Assembly and government.
The KMA boss also cautioned shop owners to properly dispose of waste created through their activities, and not leave them for collection by the assembly.
The post MMDAs charged to check unplanned development to avert flooding appeared first on The Chronicle Online.
Read Full Story
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS