Ghana to get $200mln support from World Bank to reduce flooding in Accra

The World Bank group has announced support for projects aimed to reduce flooding in Ghana's capital, Accra. The international financial institution has allocated USD 200 million in support for the projects.

The Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development project approved by the World Bank Board of Executive Directors on May 29 is likely to bring transformative changes in the Greater Accra Region (GAR).

"More than 2.5 million people in the Odaw River Basin of GAR will benefit from improved flood risk management, solid waste management, and improved access to basic infrastructure and services in targeted communities of the GAR under the project," a release from the bank said.

The focus of the first phase of the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) project will be the Odaw river basin in the capital. This will later be expanded to other priority basins within the region in subsequent phases. If successful, the project will lower the risk of floods in the capital, which experienced severe flooding after torrential rains on May 29, as reported by Xinhua.

"Enhancing infrastructure investment is critical to achieving the World Bank's twin goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity, as well as increasing the resilience of African cities," said Henry Kerali, World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

The bank will also help address climate vulnerability and inequality by focusing investments on poor neighbourhoods of targeted informal settlements which are at a higher risk of flooding, said the country director.

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