World Bank Releases $150m For Odaw Flood Control1 min read

The World Bank has released $150 million to the government as additional funding to improve on flood resilience in the Odaw River Basin in the Greater Accra Region.

The loan is to fund the Greater Accra Resilient and Integrated Development (GARID) Project aimed, among other objectives, at improving flood risk and solid waste management in the Odaw River Basin.

The World Bank Country Director for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, Pierre Laporte, said “the bank is happy to support Ghana in these times of macroeconomic challenges and to help contribute to a holistic flood management approach through this additional financing of GARID”.

Mr. Laporte further explained that the gesture was critical for achieving “the World Bank’s twin goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity as well as increasing the resilience of African cities”.

“This additional support fills a financing gap resulting from the triggering of the Contingency Emergency Response Component (CERC) in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the inclusion of resettlement compensation for approximately 2,800 project affected persons.

It also addresses cost overruns for major infrastructure investments due to inflation and engineering requirements” the country director indicated.

The Senior Urban Specialist and Task Team Leader for GARID project, Catherine Lynch, for her part said, “the planned flood mitigation infrastructure investments under GARID will directly reduce the flooding risks for urbanising and economically productive areas of the Greater Accra Region, limiting the direct flood hazards on more than 138,000 people”.