Dr Armah (3rd from left) touring the Prampram Beach with staff of the ministry
Deputy Minister of Works and Housing, Dr. Prince Hamid Armah, has reiterated the government’s commitment to protecting the country’s coastal areas.
The Deputy Minister expressed the government’s commitment during a tour of sea defence projects at some coastal areas of Accra on Tuesday.
Dr. Armah led a team from the ministry to inspect ongoing works in Prampram, La, Pamblos/Glefe and Gbegbeyise beaches, taking time to interact with personnel there who briefed him and his team on the progress of work.
At the Prampram beach, Site Manager, Kwesi Osei Sarpong, in his briefing, disclosed that the project was initially conceived to be a 5km construction but was later extended to a 6.2km sea defence project.
He added that the project, at the time, was scheduled to have been completed in October 2023, but due to COVID-19, the scheduled date had to be extended with the new timeline for completion scheduled for September 2024.
At the Glefe/Pamblos beach where the inspection ended at around 6:45pm, a 2km coastal protection project is on the verge of completion, with workers, led by Dr. Rev. Gifty Lamptey, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sidalco Group of Companies, the company implementing the project, briefing the minister and his team on progress of work thus far.
In an interaction with journalists after the inspection exercise, the Deputy Minister stated that the government has demonstrated its commitment to protecting human lives and every citizen by pumping “significant investment” into the sea defence project and is committed to doing more in that aspect.
“Our responsibility is to undertake more of such projects to protect the entire coast line so to safeguard the lives of our citizens and their livelihoods”, the minister intimated.
Ghana’s entire coastal line has a length of 550km from the Aflao border in the Volta Region to the Elubo border in the Western Region.
“What the government is doing”, the minister disclosed,”is to install the coastal protection system where sea levels are high and waves are strong with a view of addressing potential hazards of water spillage.”
The government, he added, has also “conceptualised” a coastal protection initiative to address emergency sea water spillage into coastal communities in Prampram and Dansoman as well as other coastal areas.
BY Nii Adjei Mensahfio