Ghanaian Chronicle (Accra)
Naa Norley
8 July 2009
Snippets of information picked by the Accra File indicates that contractors working on the drains in the Teshie Township have abandoned their work, giving way for some unscrupulous residents to destroy the uncompleted projects.
A walk around the town revealed that there were no gutters in the Ashitey Akomfra area, and efforts by the government to construct drains have proved futile, with unknown residents demolishing the abandoned gutters.
This paper was privileged to visit a suburb of the town, 'Yoomo Specs', where most newly-constructed gutters are cracked, while parts have been washed away by the rains, exposing the shoddy works of the contractors.
Adjetey Boye, a resident, blames the contractors for not doing any feasibility studies before the commencement of the project, which amounts to causing financial loss to the state.
Mr. Boye lamented: "places like Camp 2 , Tsui Bleoo, 'bush road' and rasta' areas have not seen a sign of hope that the drains would be constructed, left alone a tarred road."
He added that those areas needed urgent attention to salvage the situation, or homes would be completely submerged by water.
He said: "it's very sad to see unknown residents stealing sand and stones meant for the construction of the drains, because the contractors have abandoned their work."
He said the gutters, which were meant to solve flood problems, were now the cause of flooding in the area.
Adjetey Boye said the town had no proper drainage system, creating various sizes of pools during the slightest downpour. "Owing to the unavailability of drains, some individual residents have resorted to pouring their waste and bath water onto the streets, thereby creating a bad stench in the vicinity," he said.
A tour around revealed a poorly planned town, with only a few tarred roads, and the major big drain being used by some residents as a dumping site for refuse and faeces.
According to him, Aboma, also a suburb of the town, has for some time now been experiencing a degree of flooding, since the newly-constructed gutters cannot contain the volume of water whenever it rains.
He said the only planned areas of the town were the Estates and part of the Teshie Barracks, but was quick to add that the Estates "developed area" had a lot of problems, which needed to be addressed.
Explaining, Adjetey Boye said people had blocked the main drain, which facilitates the disposal of water flowing from the high level areas of the town to enter the sea, with debris.
He lamented that it was very pathetic that Teshie had no substantive chief, who could call the assembly members and the Member of Parliament (MP) to order, should they fail to deliver, in terms of infrastructural development.
He noted that the smoke haze, which characterises the smoking of fish in the town, had reduced, since most fishmongers have moved to the beaches to do their smoking.
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