The government has so far made available GH¢40million towards relief efforts at communities affected by the floods caused by the spillage of the Akosombo Dam, the Chief of Staff, Mrs Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, has announced.
According to her, the Volta River Authority (VRA) and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) were leading the provision of the relief efforts.
Furthermore, she said, the government was committed to releasing additional funds upon completion of needs assessment of the affected communities by the various sectors.
“The Ministry of Education, Health, Roads, Sanitation and Water Resources have collected and analysed data from affected communities and action is being taken,” she stated.
Mrs Osei-Opare disclosed this in Accra yesterday when she took her turn to update the media on the progress of work by the inter-ministerial committee set up to deal with the floods which affected nine districts in three regions of the country.
She said the government was committed to improving the social and economic conditions of all affected persons in the communities.
“As announced by the Finance Minister, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, during the reading of the 2024 budget and economic policy of the government on the floor of Parliament, government has budgeted an amount of GH¢220million to support the relief aid of communities affected by the Akosombo spillage as well as floods upstream in Oti, Savanah and Bono East regions,” she said.
The Chief of Staff said for the restoration phase of the exercise, the government through the Ministry of Agriculture would allocate additional resources to support the restoration of livelihoods.
She said in addition to this, steps were being taken to secure additional funding from the World Bank and international climate related resources to support the rehabilitation of affected communities.
On his part, the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum who accompanied the Chief of Staff to the briefing said the Ministry in collaboration with all its agencies had visited the grounds to ascertain the extent of damage and also provide the needed support to restore academic activities.
He said, 42,522 learners and 1,551 teachers in 127 schools were affected by the floods adding that the schools included those in the North Tongu, Central Tongu, South Tongu, Ketu South and Anloga, all in the Volta Region.
The minister said most of the students had returned to school and learning had started for them, however the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation was complimenting the effort by providing e-learning for some of the affected children.
The Chief Executive Officer of the VRA, Mr Antwi Dankwa, on his part, said the Authority was committed to ensuring that all those affected would be restored to normalcy.
He said, as dam managers, they were mandated to maintain the integrity and safety of the dam and lives of the people who live around the dam.
Mr Darkwa said even though the spillway was closed on October 30, relief efforts had continued with the provision of sanitation, clean water and shelter had been provided.
In addition, he said with the support of the Ministry of Energy, the VRA had distributed about 5,000 solar lamps in areas where electricity supply was disrupted by the floods.
BY CLIFF EKUFUL & PRECIOUS NYARKO BOAKYE