By Patrick Ofoe Nudzi
Delhi, Nov. 1, GNA – Ghana will soon benefit from a telecommunication infrastructure resilient programme to promote adaptability in existing and future telecommunications infrastructure systems to address climate and disaster risks under the CDRI initiative from India.
The programme, which is the brainchild of the Indian Government, seeks to help strengthen Ghana’s telecommunication risk management regime in order to improve the socio-economic lives of its citizens.
Mr Ramraj Narsimhan, Senior Director, Programme Management and Technical Support, CDRI, India, said this during an engagement with journalists from West and Central Africa who were on a familiarisation tour.
The tour was to expose the Press to first-hand India’s infrastructural development and understand the work and growth of their health system, education, academia and industries, culture and arts, and the partnership and collaboration with the global South specifically Africa.
The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), created under the tutelage of Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, is a global partnership of national governments, UN agencies and programmes, multilateral development banks, private sector and academia.
It intends to be the platform for members and partners to collaborate, cooperate and advocate to ensure that by 2050, over US$ 10 trillion of new and existing infrastructure investments and services are resilient to natural hazards and climate change.
This would be through enhanced capacity, informed policy, planning and management leading to improved quality of the environment, livelihoods and lives of over three billion people.
Mr Narsimhan said the telecommunication infrastructure resilient programme might not necessarily be building hard infrastructure but technologies, innovations and research solutions to address disaster and climate challenges.
He said: “We are not talking about building hard infrastructure. Under telecommunications, we are looking at large infrastructure across nations and this touches on the risks and resilience. This module is likely to be replicated in Ghana. Their High Commission expressed interest in it.”
The Senior Director said they had started supporting a fellowship project on Urban Flood Management in Ghana by helping to strengthen regulations, and policies governing the infrastructure sector and developing a strategy for building resilience.
He called on member countries, and low and middle-income countries to put in proposals and seek resources to address their disaster and climate change challenges before December 23 under the Urban Infrastructure Resilient Programme.
“We are hoping to create a specific programme in Africa which touches upon technical assistance and capacity building, infrastructure strengthening and solutions to address needs and priorities,” he said.
Currently, memberships of the CDRI are 40 countries and Ghana, South Sudan, Madagascar and Mauritius are the African countries that are part of the Coalition.
GNA