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Tetegu residents appeal to govt to deal with flood caused by spillage of Weija Dam

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General News of Saturday, 15 July 2017

Source: graphic.com,gh

2017-07-15

Tetegu Residence.jpegNii Dodoo addressing the media and the residents

Residents of Tetegu in the Ga South Municipality have appealed to the government to come up with a permanent solution to the issue of flooding in the Weija Dam catchment area which is the result of the spillage of the Weija Dam.

According to the affected residents, the decision by the management of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) to spill the dam without “following the plan that was put in place before its construction” had made life unbearable for them.

At a press conference organised by the elders and the people of the community, the spokesperson of the residents, Nii Dodoo, said there was a plan to spill the dam at a regulated flow to avoid flooding but unfortunately the management of the Weija Dam had disregarded the plan.

He added that the spilling way should be maintained at its original depth of 25ft deep while the entry point into the sea should also be kept open before the spilling to avoid flooding.

“We think that if this exercise is checked by officials of the GWCL before the spilling of the water, there would be no flooding,” Nii Dodoo said.

Plan for spillage

He said the Weija Dam, as part of its operations, had a plan that dictated how the water should be spilled to avoid chaos.

Nii Dodoo said failure on the part of the GWCL to execute the plan had resulted in the constant flooding in the area.

He said the recent spillage of the Weija Dam affected a total of 1,086 residents as well as the destruction of properties.

He lamented that since 1968, there had been continuous flooding at Tetegu, Oblogo and its surrounding communities any time the management undertook the spillage exercise.

Resettlement

In response to why they decided to settle in the catchment area of the dam, Nii Dodoo said their predecessors had occupied the area way before the construction of the dam in 1910.

“Our community was founded in the year 1740 before the Weija Dam was built. And before then, the Densu river had its normal flow into the sea and did not affect the Tetegu community and its surroundings,” he said.

According to him, when the dam was built in 1910, “it broke its banks in 1968 and flooded Tetegu and its surrounding areas such as Oblogo, Sampama, Tsokome and Fana.”

Following the first flooding, Nii Dodoo said, the residents became homeless and the government resettled the people in some parts of Accra, adding “Tetegu, in particular, was resettled at Weija and named Tetegu New Town.”

Concerning how to deal with the situation permanently, he stressed the need for the Department of Urban Roads, the Hydrology Department of the Ministry of Sanitation and Water Resources, Works and Housing as well as the Ga South Municipal Assembly to see to the construction of a drainage system which started years ago.

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