From Alfred Adams.
A normal downpour last Friday, led to the streets and roads in the Twin-City submerged, exposing the poor drainage planning of the city.
At the Takoradi Market Circle, water flowed on the streets entering peoples’ offices and stores, leaving them no option than to bail the water out and mop up. In some instances, the water remained stagnant on the streets compelling pedestrians to walk through in order to cross to the other side.
The worst affected place was the Metro Mass Transit station near the Beach Road, where the whole station was submerged by water. Passengers could be seen carrying their luggage, whilst standing in water. Though, this was not the first time streets in the Twin-City, which now prides itself as ‘Oil City’, have been submerged by water as a result of a downpour, but there have been no moves by city planners to contain the problem.
Some weeks ago, the city authority, the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA), moved to decongest the metropolis, desilting choked gutters amongst others, but that seemed not to have worked. This is because, the rate at which the downpour submerged the streets raises questions about the proper drainage planning put in place by the authorities to contain any downpour.
From the Takoradi Polytechnic Road to main Takoradi, water submerged the roads, leading to piling up of vehicular traffic. The liberation road was also submerged with water taking over the Nagel Memorial Clinic, with folders of patients being destroyed. That apart, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) sub-office, located on the Takoradi-Apowa road, had its fence wall pulled down.