By Francis Cofie
Accra, May 9, GNA – The Municipal Environmental Health and Sanitation Unit of the Ablekuma North Municipal Assembly has undertaken a clean-up exercise at Odorkor Market and its environs in Accra.
It was organised in collaboration with the office of the assembly member of the Odorkor Electoral Area, Mr Ishmael Quao to improve drainage and solid waste management in flood-prone settlements.
The Environmental Health Officers of the Assembly and the inhabitants of the area cleared rubbish, desilted choked drains and removed refuse in the surroundings.
The Assembly is one of the 17 assemblies implementing the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) Project, a social behavioural change campaign to address flooding of the Odaw Basin.
It is a joint project of the Ministry of Works and Housing, Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources and the Ministry of Local Government, Decentralization and Rural development undertaken in partnership with Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council.
Mrs Harriet Krakue, the Municipal Environmental Health Officer of the Assembly said the exercise was to stem the wave of flooding incidents in the area in anticipation of the rains to meet the objective of GARID.
“Accra is a low-lying area including Ablekuma North and that freeing the drains and gutters of filth will help curb the incident of flooding,” she stated.
Mrs Krakue said under the GARID Project the Assembly had received the requisite equipment to enable it to achieve the intended objective in the area.
She said the exercise would be carried monthly to ensure mitigation of flooding in the municipality and urged households to register with accredited waste management services for regular picking of their waste to forestall indiscriminate littering of refuse.
Mrs Krakue said the Assembly was putting plans in place to gradually expand the gutters and drains to contain the volume of running water during the raining season to reduce the magnitude of the flooding incident.
Mr Quao on his part said his office would continue with the organisation of the clean-up exercise while monitoring the sanitation situation in the electoral area.
GNA